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Louisiana  Purchase 


A  HISTORICAL  STUDY 


By  LOUIS  HOUCK 


PHILLIP  ROEDER'S  BOOK  STORE 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


L  S  TAYLOR  PRINTING  CO  -  SAINT  LOUIS 

1901. 


COPYRIGHT 

1901 

BY    LOUIS   HOCCK 


3 


34^1 


The  fact  that  much  erroneous  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  the  boundaries  of 
the  Louisiana  Purchase  has,  during  the 
last  few  years,  been  industriously  cir- 
culated by  the  daily  press  an^  otherwise, 
must  be  excuse  for  the  publication  of 
this  study. 


n  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of 
the  T^ouisiana  Purchase  it  is  re- 
cited that ' '  His  Catholic  Majesty 
promises  and  engages  on  his  part  to 
retrocede  to  the  French  Republic*** 
the  colony  or  province  of  Louisiana 
with  the  same  extent  that  it  now  has  in 
the  hands  of  Spain,  and  that  it  had 
when  France  possessed  it,  and  such  as 
it  should  have  after  the  treaties  subse- 
quentl}^  entered  into  between  Spain 
and  other  states,"  and  the  First  Con- 
sul of  the  French  Republic  then  makes 
the  grant  in  these  words,  i.  e.,  "de- 
siring to  give  to  the  United  States  a 
strong  proof  of  his  friendship,  doth 
hereby  cede  to  the  United  States  in  the 
name  of  the  French  Republic,  for- 
ever and  in  full  sovereignity,  the  said 
territory,  with  all  its  rights  and  ap- 
purtenances as  fully  and  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  had  been  acquired  by 
the  French  Republic,  in  virtue  of  the 
above  mentioned  treaty  concluded 
with  his  Catholic  Majesty."     No  fur- 


ther  description  of  the  boundaries  of 
the  "colony  or  province  of  L,ouisiana" 
is  giv'en.  It  is  transferred  as  the 
French  Republic  acquired  it,  i.  e., 
"with  the  same  extent  that  it  now 
has  in  the  hands  of  Spain  and  that  it 
had  when  France  possessed  it,  and 
such  as  it  should  be  after  the  treaties 
subsequently  entered  into  between 
Spain  and  other  states. ' '  The  transfer 
was  not  made  by  metes  and  bounds, 
because  no  one  knew  at  that  time  the 
precise  boundaries  of  the  "colony  or 
province  of  lyouisiana."  The  boun- 
daries of  the  colon}'  or  province  were 
of  undefined  extent,  so  to  say,  political 
boundaries,  boundaries  liable  to  be 
expanded  or  contracted  according  to 
political  exigencies. 

Undeniably  the  purchase  involved 
the  acquisition  of  well  defined  terri- 
torial rights  as  well  as  political  rights 
and  claims.  With  the  purchase  com- 
pleted we  acquired  that  sphere  of 
influence  which  France  enjoyed  on 
the  North  American  continent  by 
reason  of  the  occupancy  of  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great 
6 


lyakes,  and  which  France  retained 
after  the  treaty  of  1763,  as  well  as  all 
those  territorial  and  political  rights 
derived  by  the  discovery  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  of  Texas,  and  which  had 
not  been  ceded  to  Great  Britain.  More 
than  that,  we  also  acquired  the  terri- 
tory of  Louisiana  "  with  the  same 
extent  that  it  now  has  in  the  hands  of 
Spain  and  such  as  it  should  be  after 
the  treaties  subsequently  entered  into 
between  Spain  and  other  States"  — 
that  is,  when  Spain  retroceded  the 
province  or  colony  to  France.  In 
other  words,  if  during  the  dominion 
of  Spain  any  portion  of  the  ' '  colony 
or  province  of  Louisiana  ' '  was  lost, 
France  re -acquired  the  province  or 
colony  thus  curtailed.  But  on  the 
other  hand  it  is  equally  clear,  that  if 
during  the  dominion  of  Spain  any- 
thing was  added  to  the  colony  or 
province  either  territorially  or  politi- 
cally, if  vague  and  undefined  French 
claims  were  enlarged,  made  certain 
and  definite,  the  sphere  of  influence 
of  the  colony  or  province  enlarged 
and  broadened,  thus  territorially  or 
7 


politically  strengthening  the  colony  or 
province,  this  acquisition,  also  inured 
to  our  benefit. 

Talleyrand  said:  "France  in  giving 
up  Louisiana  to  tlie  United  States  trans- 
ferred all  rights  over  the  colony  which 
she  had  acquired  from  Spain."  (a) 

In  order,  therefore,  to  determine 
what  were  the  boundaries  of  the 
Louisiana  Purchase,  it  is  equally  im- 
portant to  determine  what  were  the 
boundaries  territoriall}^  and  the  poli- 
tical sphere  of  influence  or  right  to 
expand  when  France  ceded  the  colony 
or  province  to  Spain,  and  what  Spain 
added  to  or  ceded  away  either  terri- 
torially or  politically  pertaining  to  the 
colony  or  province,  because  as  stated, 
if  in  anywa}^  the  province  was  cur- 
tailed or  in  anyway  the  territorial  or 
political  rights  of  the  province  en- 
larged and  made  more  certain  or 
strengthened,  these  rights  passed  to 
the  United  States. 

That  the  United  States  acquired  not 
only  territorial  rights,  but  also  a  sphere 

(a)     Letter  of  Talleyiand  to  Gen.  ."VrinstronK,  Dec. 
31,  1S04. 

8 


of  influence  or  right  to  expansion  is 
shown  clearly  in  a  letter  written  by- 
Mr.  Livingston  to  Mr.  Madison,  Sec- 
retary of  State  of  the  United  States, 
from  Paris  on  May  20,  1803.  In  this 
letter  Mr.  Livingston  says : 

"I  called  this  morning  on  Mr.  Mar- 
bois  for  a  further  explanation  of  this 
subject  (the  cession  of  Louisiana)  and 
to  remind  him  of  his  having  told  me 
that  Mobile  made  a  part  of  the  ces- 
sion. He  told  me  that  he  had  no 
precise  idea  on  the  subject,  but  that 
he  knew  it  to  be  a  historical  fact,  and 
on  that  he  had  formed  his  opinion.  I 
asked  him  what  orders  had  been  given 
to  the  Prefect,  that  was  to  take  pos- 
session, or  what  orders  had  been 
given  by  Spain  as  to  the  boundary  in 
ceding  it.  He  assured  me  that  he  did 
not  know,  but  that  he  would  make 
the  inquiry  and  let  me  know.  At  four 
o'clock  I  called  for  Mr.  Monroe  to 
take  him  to  the  minister  for  foreign 
affairs,  but  he  was  prevented  from 
accompanying  me.  I  asked  the  min- 
ister what  were  the  last  bounds  of  the 
territory  ceded  to  us ;  he  said  he  did 
9 


not  know;  we  must  take  it  as  they 
had  received  it;  I  asked  him  how 
Spain  meant  to  give  that  possession; 
he  said  according  to  the  words  of  the 
treaty ;  but  where  did  you  mean  to 
take?  I  do  not  know.  Then  you 
mean  that  we  shall  construe  it  our 
own  way?  I  can  give  j^ou  no  direc- 
tion ;  you  have  made  a  noble  bargain 
for  yourselves  and  I  suppose  you  will 
make  the  most  of  it. " 

Hence  Benton  in  his  speech  in  re- 
pl}^  to  Dickerson  truly  said,  that  when 
the  United  States  purchased  Louisiana 
they  acquired  "  with  it  an  open  ques- 
tion of  boundaries  for  that  vast  pro- 
vince." {a) 

When  the  French  negotiator  pointed 
out  to  Napoleon  the  uncertainty  of  the 
boundary  he  said  "that  if  obscurity 
did  not  already  exist  it  would  perhaps 
be  good  policy  to  put  one  there."  (d) 

Gallatin  wrote  Jefferson  August  18, 
1803,  that  our  minister  in  England, 
Hon.   Rufus  King,  advised    him  that 

(a)  Benton's   Thirty  Years   in   the  United  States 
Senate.  Vol.  1,  p.  51. 

(b)  Marbois'  Louisiana,  p.  286. 

10 


the   boundaries    of    lyouisiana    ' '  had 
never  been  settled  by  any  treaty. "  (a) 

In  1808,  "An  Account  of  Louis- 
iana, being  an  abstract  of  Documents 
in  the  offices  of  the  Department  of 
State,"  was  published  anonymously, 
and  in  this  account  it  is  said  "of  the 
province  of  Louisiana  no  general  map 
sufficiently  correct  to  be  depended  up- 
on has  been  published,  nor  has  any  yet 
been  procured  from  a  private  source. 
It  is  indeed  probable  that  surveys 
have  never  been  made  on  so  exten- 
sive a  scale  as  to  afford  the  means  of 
laying  down  the  various  regions  of 
countr}^  which  in  some  of  it  appear 
to  have  been  but  imperfectly  ex- 
plored."   (b) 

And  Colonel  Don  Antonia  de  Alcedo  ^s ,. 
in  his  "Geographical  and  Historical 
Dictionary  of  the  West  Indies  of 
America,"  published  by  permission  of 
the  Spanish  Government  in  Madrid  in 
1786,  saj's  that  the  "limits  of  the 
province  of  Louisiana  have  never 
been  precisely  fixed." 

(a)     Writings  of  Gallatin,  Vol.  1,  p.  143. 
(i)     Pagel. 

11 


?' 


Says  McMasters,  "on  the  rude  maps 
of  the  closing  days  of  the  seventeenth 
century  Louisiana,  therefore,  extends 
from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Mobile, 
from  the  Gulf  to  the  country  beyond 
the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
from  the  Smoky  Mountains  to  the  un- 
known regions  of  the  West."  (a) 

Du  Pratz,  who  wrote  his  "History 
of  Louisiana"  before  the  close  of  the 
French -English  wars,  thus  defines  the 
boundaries:  "Louisiana  is  that  part 
of  North  America  which  is  bounded 
on  the  south  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
on  the  east  by  Carolina,  an  English 
colonj^  and  by  a  part  of  Canada;  on 
the  west  by  New  Mexico,  and  on  the 
north  in  part  b}^  Canada,  in  part  it 
extends  without  assignable  bounds  to 
the  terra  incognita  adjoining  Hudson 
Bay."  {l>) 

Vague  and  contradictory  ideas  pre- 
vailed as  to  the  boundaries  of  the 
"colony  and  province"  because  the 
territory  was  not  of  sufficient  value  or 

(a)  Hist,  of  the  Peojile  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  3, 
p.  32. 

(6)  Du  Pratz'  Hist,  of  I.ouisana,  Vol.  1,  p.  200,  Lon- 
don Editiou,  1763. 

12 


well  enough  known  to  warrant  a  con- 
troversy, nor  was  it  the  policy  of  any 
of  the  powers  interested  in  this  terri- 
tory to  make  any  concession  or  defi- 
nite agreement  as  to  the  boundaries. 

The  question  of  the  extent  of  the 
"colony  or  province  of  Louisiana" 
was  left  open  and  finally  was  solved 
and  settled  by  us  as  dictated  by  our 
interest  as  a  political  and  not  as  an 
academic  question. 

The  French  had  no  idea  of  curtail- 
ing the  limits  of  their  vast  claims  on 
the  North  American  continent.  They 
had  no  fixed  theories  about  water 
sheds  and  natural  and  geographical 
boundaries.  They  claimed  everything 
to  the'  'Western  Sea' '  precisely  as  their 
English  neighbors  on   this  continent. 

The  doctrine  of  European  rights  to 
uncivilized  countries  derived  from  dis- 
covery and  possession  is  not  reducible 
and  never  has  been  reduced  to  fixed 
rules,  {(f) 

French  statesmen  well  understood 
this.  In  1715,  Raudot,  who  under 
Pontchartrain  was  in  charge  of  French 

(a)     Writings  of  Gallatiu,  Vol.  1,  p.  241. 

13 


colonial  affairs,  requested  De  L'Isle, 
the  geographer,  to  remove  the  dots 
from  his  map  that  marked  the  limits 
of  Louisiana  "as  the  Court  wishes  it 
left  undefined,  and  does  not  want 
French  maps  to  be  quoted  by  foreign 
nations  against  us."  (a) 

The  assertion  of  Marbois:  "The 
shores  of  the  Western  Ocean  were 
certainly  not  comprised  in  the  ces- 
sion," id)  would  have  been  emphati- 
cally repudiated  by  Pontchartrain. 
The  statement  is  entitled  to  little  con- 
sideration, because  it  is  contradicted 
by  the  entire  colonial  policy  and  claims 
of  France  in  North  America. 

Nor  were  the  statesmen  of  our  coun- 
try less  alive,  than  the  statesmen  of 
France,  to  save  the  territorial  rights 
and  to  protect  the  sphere  of  political 
influence  we  secured  by  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  "  colony  or  province  of 
Ivouisiana."  So  cautious  was  the 
United  States  Senate,  that  the  fifth  ar- 
ticle of  the  treaty  of  1803  with  Great 
Britain    for    adjusting    our    northern 

(a)     Winsor's  Mississippi  Basin,  p.  86. 
ib)     Marbois'  Louisiana,  p.  2S6. 

14 


boundary  was  rejected,  because  it  was 
feared  it  would  curtail  our  rights  ac- 
quired from  France  by  the  Louisiana 
Purchase. 

"It  happened,"  says  Benton,  "in 
the  very  time  we  were  signing  a  treaty 
in  Paris  for  the  acquisition  of  Louisi- 
ana that  we  were  signing  another  in 
London  for  the  adjustment  of  the 
boundary  line  between  the  Northwest 
possessions  of  the  United  States  and 
the  King  of  Great  Britain.  The  ne- 
gotiators of  each  were  ignorant  of 
what  the  other  had  done,  and  on  re- 
mitting the  two  treaties  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  for  ratification, 
that  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  was 
ratified  without  restriction ;  the  other 
with  the  exception  of  the  fifth  article. 
It  was  this  article  which  adjusted  the 
boundary  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  from  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods  to  the  head  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  Senate  refused  to  ratify 
because  by  a  possibility  it  might 
jeopardize  the  northern  boundary  of 
Louisiana."  England  rejected  the 
treaty  as  amended. 
15 


If  the  views  of  the  limited  bound- 
aries of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  that 
now  are  advocated  by  some  had  ob- 
tained at  that  time  the  United  States 
wouki  not  have  rejected  the  fifth  arti- 
cle of  the  treat}',  but  ratified  the  same, 
and  in  this  wa}^  a  large  portion  of  the 
territory  that  now  constitutes  the  states 
of  Minnesota,  North  Dakota  and  Mon- 
tana undoubtedly  lost  to  the  United 
States. 

After  the  sale  of  the  "colony  and 
province  of  lyouisiana"  to  the  United 
States  the  boundaries  of  the  colony 
sold  became  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  France,  but  Spain  as  well  as  Great 
Britain  were  concerned  at  the  time  in 
determining  what  the  boundaries  of 
Louisiana  were.  It  was  the  policy  of 
both  of  these  nations  to  endeavor  to 
curtail  and  limit  the  actual  territorial 
boundaries  of  the  "province  or  colo- 
ny" and  the  historical  right  of  France 
to  expand  to  the  Western  Sea,  a  right 
which  we  acquired  by  virtue  of  this 
purchase.  Nothing  would  have  better 
served  the  diplomats  of  Europe  than 
the  arguments  advanced  by  some  of 
16 


our  writers  holding  quasi -governmen- 
tal positions  or  some  of  the  ill-con- 
sidered oflficial  maps  attempting  to 
show  the  extent  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase.  Such  maps  published  in 
1805  would  have  given  England  the 
northwest  Pacific  coast  and  Texas  to 
Spain. 

Without  going  into  every  detail  let 
us  now  examine  what  were  the  terri- 
torial limits  of  the  '  'colony  or  province 
of  Louisiana":  first,  on  the  east; 
second,  on  the  southwest;  third,  on 
the  north;  and  fourth,  what  were  the 
western  territorial  limits  and  the 
political  sphere  of  influence  belong- 
ing to  this  "colony  or  province",  or 
right  of  the  Louisiana  hinterland  to 
expand  to  the  Western  Ocean. 


17 


n 


he  Mississippi  from  the  31st  de- 
gree parallel  to  its  source  was 
the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
"province  or  colony  of  Louisiana". 
The  31st  parallel  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Apalachicola,  and  down  that 
stream  to  the  Gulf,  was  considered  by 
the  United  States,  by  France  and  Eng- 
land as  the  southeast  boundary,  but 
Spain  claimed  that  the  Iberville  and 
Lakes  Maurepas  and  Pontchartrain 
were  the  true  dividing  line  between 
Louisiana  and  the  Floridas.  Histori- 
cally, undoubtedly  the  boundary  of 
the  "colony  or  province  of  Louisiana" 
extended  as  far  east  as  Pensacola.  The 
principal  seat  of  the  colonj'  or  pro- 
vince was  established  by  Iberville  on 
the  western  side  of  the  river  Mobile, 
not  far  from  the  spot  where  now  stands 
the  city  of  Mobile,  and  there  remained 
until  Bienville  in  1723  laid  out  the  city 
of  New  Orleans. 

Before  the  discovery  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  voyages  of 
18 


Iberville,  the  Spaniards  claimed  the 
whole  circuit  of  the  Gulf,  but  made 
no  settlement — and  only  were  aroused 
to  action  by  the  enterprise  of  the 
French,  and  then  occupied  the  Bay  of 
Pensacola,  the  best  harbor  on  the  Gulf. 
* '  The  barrier  thus  formed , ' '  says  Pick  - 
ett,  "made  the  dividing  line  between 
Florida  and  lyouisiana."  (a) 

"All  the  French  writers  are  agreed 
in  fixing  the  Perdido  to  the  east  as  the 
limits,  and  the  Rio  del  Norte  to  the 
west,"  for  Louisiana,  (d) 

In  a  letter  to  Breckenridge  dated 
August  12th,  1803,  Jefferson  claims 
the  Rio  Perdido  between  Mobile  and 
Pensacola  as  the  "ancient  boundary 
of  Louisiana,"  and  Gallatin  agreed 
with    him.  (c) 

Spain  persistently  for  a  time  refused 
to  admit  the  Perdido  as  the  boundary 
line,  and  formed  the  territory,  bound- 
ed on  the  north  by  the  31st  degree,  by 
the  River  Perdido  on  the  east,  the 
Pearl  River  on  the  west,  and  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  on  the  south,  into  a  Spanish 

(a)  Pickett's  Hist,  of  Alabama.  Vol.  1.  p.  185. 
ib)  Brackenridee's  Views  ol  Louisiana,  p.  57. 
(c)    WritiuKS  of  Gallatin.  Vol.  1,  p.  150. 

19 


district.  At  the  same  time  the  United 
States  insisted  that  the  country  should 
be  surrendered  as  a  part  of  the  Louisi  - 
ana  Purchase,  and  that  both  the  Baton 
Rouge  and  Mobile  districts  were  in- 
cluded in  the  lyouisiana  cession.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  by- 
Spanish  authorities  that  just  before 
the  Revolution  she  was  engaged  in  a 
war  with  England  and  by  conquest 
acquired  the  Baton  Rouge  district  as 
well  as  Mobile,  then  being  a  part  of 
West  Florida,  and  that  by  the  treaty  of 
1783  Great  Britain  ceded  this  territory 
to  her. 

For  a  time  great  excitement  on  ac- 
count of  this  controversy  prevailed 
along  the  borders  and  border  troubles 
were  the  order  of  the  day.  (a) 

In  18 10  the  Spaniards  were  expelled 
from  Baton  Rouge  by  force,  the  place 
being  taken  by  surprise  and  the 
Spanish  Governor  de  Grandpre  was 
killed.  After  this  the  Spaniards  of 
this  district  retired  to  Pensacola.  In 
1813  the  United  States  became  appre- 
hensive that  the  British  forces  might 

(a)     Pickett's  Hist,  of  Alabama,  p.  203. 

20 


take  possession  of  the  Mobile  District 
and  forts  and  the  whole  district  be- 
tween the  Pearl  and  the  Perdido  and 
below  the  line  of  the  31st  degree 
parallel  was  occupied  b}'  onr  Govern- 
ment as  ceded  to  us  under  the  Louisi- 
ana Purchase.  General  Wilkinson 
with  600  men  of  the  third  and  seventh 
regiments,  sailing  from  New  Orleans 
in  transport  vessels  commanded  by 
Commodore  Shaw,  provided  with  scal- 
ing ladders  and  every  necessary  equip- 
ment, landed  in  the  Bay  of  Mobile, 
marched  up  to  the  town,  took  position 
in  the  rear  of  Fort  Charlotte,  and  after 
some  correspondence  the  Spanish 
Commandant,  Captain  Cayetano  Perez, 
surrendered  the  fort,  cannon  and  mili- 
tary stores  to  the  United  States,  the 
commander  of  the  United  States  forces 
agreeing  to  pay  for  the  same,  and  also 
retired  to  Pensacola.  The  stars  and 
stripes  were  hoisted  on  the  ramparts 
of  Fort  Charlotte,  and  General  Wilkin- 
son then  marched  to  the  Rio  Perdido 
and  established  a  stockade  fort  there. 
That  the  River  Perdido  formed  the 
eastern  boundary  of  Louisiana  has 
21 


also  been  decided  in  a  number  of 
cases  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,    {a) 

Thus  finall}'  by  virtue  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Purchase  the  southern  portions  of 
Mississippi  and  Alabama  were  added 
to  the  United  States,  fl'J  and  to  that 
extent  Mississippi  and  Alabama  are 
Louisiana  Purchase  States. 

ill)  See  opinion  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in 
Foster  V,  Neilson,  2  Peters,  307  affirmed  in  Garcia, 
vs.  I,ee,  12  Peters,  page  520 — Chief  Justice  Taney, 
delivering  opinion  of  Court. 

{l>)     Pickett's  Hist,  of  Alabama,  Vol.  2,  p.  24S. 


22 


be  claim  of  France  to  Texas  as  a 

part  of  I^ouisiana  was  founded 

on  the  discovery  of  I^aSalle  and 

on  the  French  establishments  of  the 

Mississippi    being   prior    to    those  of 

Spain  east  of  the  Rio  del  Norte,  (a) 

When  L,aSalle  established  his  post 
on  Matagorda  Bay,  the  nearest  Spanish 
settlement  was  on  the  Panuco,  and  the 
natural  half-way  boundary  of  the 
unoccupied  territory  was  the  Rio 
Bravo,   (d) 

Bancroft  says :  ' '  Louisiana  was  held 
b}^  the  French  to  extend  to  the 
River  del  Norte.  The  boundary  line 
of  French  pretensions,  in  disregard  of 
the  claims  of  Spain,  crossed  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  sought  its  termination 
in  the  Gulf  of  California."  (c) 

Says  Bancroft:  "Ascending  the 
Lavaca,  a  small  stream  at  the  west  of 
the  bay,  LaSalle  selected  a  site  on  the 

ia)     Writiugs  of  Gallatin,  Vol.  1,  p.  241. 
(6)     Jefferson's  letter  to  Mellish,  Dec.  31,  1816. 
{c)     Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the  United  States,  Vol.    2, 
Chap.  14,  p.  214,  Author's  last  revision, 

23 


open  ground  for  the  establishment  of 
a  fortified  post.  The  gentle  slope 
which  he  named  St.  Louis  showed  to- 
wards the  west  and  southwest  a 
boundless  landscape,  verdant  with 
luxuriant  grasses  and  dotted  with 
groves  of  forest  trees ;  south  and  east 
was  the  Bay  of  Matagorda  skirted  with 
prairies.  The  waters  which  abounded 
in  fish  attracted  flocks  of  wild  fowl ; 
the  fields  were  alive  with  deer  and 
bison  and  wild  turkeys,  and  the  dead- 
ly rattle -snake,  bright  inhabitant  of 
the  meadows.  There  under  the  suns 
of  June  with  timber  felled  in  an  in- 
land grove  and  dragged  for  a  league 
over  the  prairie  grass  the  colonists 
prepared  to  build  a  shelter,  LaSalle 
being  the  architect  and  himself  mark- 
ing the  beams,  the  tenons  and  mor- 
tises. With  parts  of  the  wreck 
brought  up  on  canoes  a  second  house 
was  framed,  and  of  each  the  roof  was 
covered  with  buffalo  skins.  Thus 
France  took  possession  of  Texas ;  her 
arms  carved  on  its  trees,  and  by  no 
24 


treaty  or  public  document  or  map  did 
she  give  up  lier  right  to  the  province 
until  she  resigned  the  whole  of  lyouisi  - 
ana  to  Spain."  {a) 

LaHarpe  made  a  second  attempt  to 
plant  a  colony  on  the  Bay  of  Mata- 
gorda, but  this  stimulated  the  Spani- 
ards to  the  occupation  of  the  country 
by  the  establishments  from  time  to 
time  of  several  forts. 

The  French  ever  regarded  the  mouth 
of  del  Norte  as  the  western  limit  of 
Louisiana  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  An 
English  geography  (Poples'  map) 
recognized  the  claim. 

When  in  1819  Don  Louis  de  Onis 
was  commissioned  by  Spain  to  settle 
the  boundary  dispute  of  Louisiana,  the 
United  States  contended  that  Texas 
was  a  part  of  Louisiana,  and  the  con- 
tention was  based  on  the  discovery  of 
the  Mississippi  throughout  its  whole 
length  in  1682  by  LaSalle;  the  land- 
ing of  LaSalle  in  Matagorda  Bay  in 
1685;  the  grant  of  Louis  XIV.  to 
Crozat;  a  memoir  said  to  have  been 

(a)  Bancroft's  mst.  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  2. 
p.  172,  Author's  last  revision. 

25 


written  by  Vergennes  in  the  reign  of 
lyouis  XVI. ;  a  chart  of  Louisiana  by 
Lopez  publishsd  in  1762;  a  map  of 
DeL'Isle  published  in  1782;  a  map 
published  at  Nurenburg  in  1712;  an 
"Atlas  Geograpkicus"  published  in 
London  in  1717;  an  official  British 
map  published  in  1755;  Narratives  of 
Hennepin,  Tonty  and  Joutel;  letter  of 
LaHarpe  dated  July  8,  1719;  an  order 
from  Bienville  to  LaHarpe  dated 
August  12,  1771 ;  and  the  geographi- 
cal work  of  Alcedo,  already  referred 
to,  published  in  Spain,  {a) 

Falconer  attempts  to  throw  discredit 
on  this  formidable  array  of  authorities 
by  claiming  that  they  are  mostly  ir- 
relevent,  the  maps  unofficial,  and  that 
both  the  map-makers  of  London  and 
Nurenberg  must  be  put  out  of  Court; 
but  it  should  be  remembered  that  he 
is  arguing  the  British  side  in  this  con- 
troversy as  to  the  Louisiana  boundary. 
On  an  array  of  authorities  far  less  de- 
cisive and  clear  Great  Britain  secured 
great  and  important  territories. 

ia)     See  Falconer  on  the  Mississippi  and  Oregon, 
p.  41,  and  where  authorities  are  set  out  as  al)ove, 

26 


How  active  the  French  were  in  as- 
serting claim  to  Texas  as  a  part  of 
lyouisiana  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
Iberville  sent  out  exploring  parties 
westward  feeble  as  the  French  colonies 
were.  In  1716  Cadillac  sent  St. 
Dennis  to  oppose  the  Spaniards  in  an 
attempt  to  establish  themselves  at 
Nachitoches.  (a) 

In  1718  St.  Dennis  with  another  ex- 
pedition penetrated  as  far  south  as  the 
Presidio  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  on  the 
Rio  del  Norte.  A  French  fort  was 
established  at  Nachitoches  in  1730, 
St.  Dennis  acting  as  commandant.  {I?) 
In  1720  LaHarpe  built  a  fort  in  lati- 
tude 35,  55,  about  250  miles  from 
Nachitoches,  which  he  called  St.  Louis 
del  Carlorette,  and  the  French  remain- 
ed in  possession  until  the  country  was 
transferred  to  Spain,  (c)  From  this 
fort  LaHarpe  explored  the  country  to 
the  Arkansas,  examined  the  sources 
of  the  Washita,  passed  the  high  moun- 

(a)  Gayarres'  Hist,  of  Louisiana,  p.  166. 

(b)  Gayarres'  Hist,  of  Louisiana,  p.  418:  Du  Pratz, 
Vol.  1,  p.  U. 

(c)  Brackenridge's  Views  of  Louisiana,  p.  56. 

27 


tains,  which  divided  th&  waters  of  the 
Washita  from  the  Arkansas,  and 
descended  that  river  to  the  Missis- 
sippi,   (a) 

It  must,  however,  not  be  supposed 
that  the  Spaniards  were  idle.  They 
also  established  forts  and  posts,  notably 
San  Antonio  de  Bexar.  The  Spanish 
Governor  ordered  lyaHarpe  to  retire 
from  Texas,  but  LaHarpe  replied  that 
he  was  astonished  at  the  pretensions 
of  the  Spanish  Governor,  considering 
that  the  French  had  always  looked 
upon  Texas  as  a  part  of  I^ouisiana, 
since  I^aSalle  had  taken  possession  of 
that  country,  and  which  still  retained 
his  mortal  remains.  He  added  that  the 
French  Government  could  not  admit 
that  the  pretensions  of  Spain  could 
legitimately  go  beyond  the  Rio  Bravo. 
The  French  Government  supported 
LaHarpe  in  the  position  he  had  taken, 
and  he  was  ordered  to  take  possession 
of  the  Bay  of  St.  Bernard. 

Gayarre  says:  *'It  is  not  the  less 
remembered    that    France    called    in 

{a)     Brackeuiidge's  Views  of  I<oiiisiaiia,  p.  58. 

28 


question  rights  which  Spain  pretended 
with  so  much  tenacity  to  have  to 
Texas,  (a) 

Although  the  claims  of  the  United 
States  were  abandoned  b}'  the  Florida 
treaty  signed  at  Washington  on  the 
22nd  day  of  February,  1819,  this  in 
no  wise  ought  to  be  taken  as  evidence 
that  Texas  was  not  truly  a  part  of  the 
"colony  or  province  of  Louisiana". 
It  should  rather  be  considered  as  dic- 
tated b}'  the  exigencies  of  the  hour. 
Says  President  Monroe:  "For  the 
territory^  ceded  by  Spain  other  territory 
of  great  value  (Texas  to  which  our 
claim  was  believed  to  be  well  founded) 
was  ceded  by  the  United  States,  and 
in  a  quarter  more  interesting  to 
her."  id) 

But  Jefferson  was  inflexibly  opposed 
to  this  treaty,  {c)  So  also  Jackson, 
but  he  yielded  to  the  arguments  of 
Monroe,  and  wrote  that  "for  the 
present  we  ought  to  be  contented 
with  the  Floridas."  (d)     Benton  was 

{a)  Hist,  of  Louisiana,  p.  260:  See  also  P'alcouer, 
P.  41. 

(*)     Message  of  President  Monroe,  Dec.  7,  1S19. 
(c)     Benton's  Thirty  Years,  Vol.  1,  p.  16. 
id)     See  Benton's  Thirty  Years,  Vol.  1,  p.  16. 

29 


"shocked"  by  this  treaty,  because  the 
new  boundaty,  "besides  cutting  off 
Louisiana,  dismembered  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  mutilated  two  of  its 
noblest  rivers,  brought  foreign  domin- 
ion (and  it  non -slave  holding)  to  the 
neighborhood  of  New  Orleans,  and 
established  a  wilderness  barrier  be- 
tween Missouri  and  New  Mexico  to 
interrupt  their  trade,  separate  their 
inhabitants  and  shelter  the  wild  Indian 
depredators  upon  the  lives  and  prop- 
erty of  all  who  undertook  to  pass 
from  one  to  the  other."  {a) 

Chevalier  de  Onis  claimed  the  praise 
of  his  nation  for  having  exchanged 
the  small  and  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant province  of  Florida  for  the  rich 
and  productive  territory  of  Texas, 
thus  admitting  that  Texas  constituted 
truly  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase. 
But  Falconer  says  that  Chevalier  de 
Onis  did  not  manage  the  case  of  Spain 
well,  and  that  "a  more  gross  case  of 
mismanagement  and  ignorant  diplom- 
acy was  never  exhibited." 

ia)     Beutou's  Thirty  Years.  Vol.  1.  p.  l.S. 
30 


By  this  treaty  Spain  ceded  Florida 
and  the  United  States  relinquished  all 
claims  to  territories  west  of  the  River 
Sabine  and  south  of  the  upper  parts  of 
the  Red  and  Arkansas  rivers.  It  was 
agreed  that  a  line  drawn  on  the  meri- 
dian from  the  source  of  the  Arkansas 
northward  to  the  42nd  parallel  of  lati- 
tude, thence  along  that  parallel  west- 
ward to  the  Pacific- should  form  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  Spanish 
possessions  and  the  southern  bound - 
arj^  of  those  of  the  United  States  in 
that  quarter — "His  Catholic  Majesty 
ceding  to  the  United  States  all  his 
rights,  claims,  and  pretensions  to  any 
territories  north  of  said  line".  This 
line  fixed  definitely  the  south  line  of 
the  Louisiana  Purchase  to  the 
Pacific,  (a) 

Although  Texas  was  thus  ceded 
away,  subsequent  events  restored  this 
portion  of  the  "colony  or  province 
of  Louisiana"  to  the  United  States, 
(<^)  and  hence  it  seems  proper  that 
Texas  should  be  considered  as  one  of 
the  Louisiana  Purchase  states. 

(a)     Greenhow's,  p.  316. 

(i^)  See  President  Tyler's  message  to  the  Senate, 
1844,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  4, 
p.  307. 

31 


0 


he  northern  limits  of  IvOiiisiaiia 
were  never  definitely  determin- 
ed, (a)  In  1717  the  Illinois 
countrj^  was  added  to  Louisiana,  but 
it  was  uncertain  whether  this  carried 
the  line  to  the  Wisconsin  River,  and 
it  was  a  source  of  dispute  between 
Vaudreuil,  Governor  of  Canada,  and 
Boisbriant,  Local  Governor  of  Ft.  de 
Chartres,  whether  his  jurisdiction  ex- 
tended to  the  source  of  all  the  affluents 
of  the  Mississippi  or  not.  (d)  Some 
map  makers  included  the  basin  of  Lake 
Winipeg  as  in  the  Louisiana  country. 
Hennepin's  map  of  Louisiana  extends 
the  boundaries  of  Louisiana  north  of 
Lake  Superior,    (c) 

According  to  Du  Pratz  Louisiana  on 
the  north  in  part  extends  without  any 
assignable  bounds  to  the  terraincog- 
nita  adjoining  to  the  Hudson's  Bay. CdJ 

(a)     Winsor's  Miss.  Basiu.  p.  146. 
(./>)     Wiusor's  Miss.  Basin,  p.  148. 
(c)    See    map  iu  Winsor's  Cartier  to  Kroiiteuac, 
p.  279. 

id)     Du  Pratz  Hist,  of  Louisiana.  Vol.  1,  p.  199. 
32 


"However,  "he  says,"  we  need  not 
trouble  ourselves  concerning  our  in- 
terests in  this  very  distant  region. 
Many  centuries  must  pass  before  we 
shall  have  penetrated  these  northern 
countries  of  Louisiana." 

But  as  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  "colony  or  province  of  Louisiana" 
the  United  States  claimed  the  49th 
parallel  of  latitude  upon  the  ground 
that  this  parallel  had  been  adopted  and 
definitely  settled  by  commissioners 
appointed  agreeably  to  the  10th  arti- 
cle of  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  in  1713. 
Says  Gallatin:  "The  limits  between 
the  possessions  of  Great  Britain  and 
those  of  ours  in  the  same  quarter, 
namely,  Canada  and  Louisiana,  were 
determined  by  commissioners  ap- 
pointed in  pursuance  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht.  From  the  coast  of  Labrador 
to  a  certain  point  north  of  Lake  Supe  - 
rior  those  limits  were  fixed  according 
to  certain  metes  and  bounds,  and  from 
that  point  the  line  of  demarcation 
was  agreed  to  extend  indefinitely  west 
along  the  49th  parallel  north  latitude. 
It  was  in  conformity  with  that  arrange - 
33 


ment  that  the  United  States  claimed 
that  parallel  as  the  northern  boundary 
of  lyouisiana.  It  has  been  accordingly 
thus  settled  as  far  as  the  Stony  Moun- 
tains by  the  convention  of  1818,  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  and  no  adequate  reason  can  be 
given  why  the  same  boundary  should 
not  be  continued  as  far  as  the  claims 
of  the  United  States  extend — that  is  to 
say,  as  far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean."  (a) 

But  Greenhow  makes  it  quite  clear 
that  these  commissioners  never  did 
definitel}'  agree  upon  this  boundary 
line,   id) 

Universally,  however,  the  49th  par- 
allel came  to  be  considered,  in  this 
country,  as  the  boundary  line  estab- 
lished under  that  treaty ;  but  on  some 
maps  the  highlands  encircling  Hudson 
Bay  were  laid  down  as  the  boundary 
line  under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  and 
on  other  maps,  published  by  authority 
of  the  British  Government,  no  line 
was  laid  down  at  all;  and,  according 
to  Pere  Marest,  the  French  in  1694, 

(a)     Writings  of  Gallatin,  Vol.  3,  p.  310. 
(A)    See  Greenhow's  Oregon,  p.  281. 

34 


before  this  treaty  was  made  and  which 
merely  confirmed  English  rights, 
claimed  the  right  to  trade  in  the  Hud- 
son Bay  country  "to  the  51st  degree 
parallel  and  even  further  north."   (a) 

By  the  treaty  of  1^73  it  was  agreed  'Vv 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  that  our  northern  boundary  line 
should  pass  "through  L,ake  Superior 
northward  to  the  isles  Royal  and  Phil- 
ipeaux  to  the  Long  Lake,  thence 
through  the  middle  of  the  Long  Lake, 
between  it  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  ; 
thence  through  the  said  lake  to  the 
northwestern  point  thereof,  and  from 
thence  on  a  due  west  course  to  the 
River  Mississippi;  thence  by  a  line 
drawn  along  the  middle  of  said  River 
Mississippi  until  it  shall  intersect  the 
northermost  part  of  the  31st  degree 
north  latitude." 

When  this  northern  line  was  adopt- 
ed it  was  supposed  that  the  49th 
parallel  crossed  the  Mississippi  some- 
where, but  it  was  afterwards  found  that 
the  highest  water  of  this  river  did  not 
extend  beyond  latitude  47  degrees,  36 

(a)    66  Jesuits'  Relations,  p.  69. 

35 


minutes  north,  and  that  the  northern 
point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  stood 
in  latitude  49  degrees  20  minutes 
north,  or  about  104  geographical  miles 
north  of  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi. 

An  effort  was  made  in  1 794  to  make 
an  amicable  adjustment  of  this  anom- 
ly,  but  nothing  definite  resulted.  By 
the  treaty  of  1803  already  referred  to 
it  was  agreed  that  the  northern  bound- 
ary between  Great  Britian  and  the 
United  States  should  be  from  the  I,ake 
of  the  Woods  to  the  Mississippi  by  the 
shortest  line,  but  the  purchase  of  the 
"colony  or  province  of  Louisiana" 
gave  a  new  importance  to  this  subject, 
and  the  treaty  was  not  ratified. 

By  the  treaty  of  1807,  it  was  attemp- 
ted to  fix  the  49th  parallel  as  the 
boundary  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  as  far  as  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  but  this  treaty  was  also 
rejected,  because  the  line  along  the 
49th  parallel  was  not  extended  west- 
ward to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Thus  early  was  the  49th  parallel 
claimed  and  recognized  as  our  north- 
ern boundary  by  virtue  of  the  Louisi- 
36 


ana  Purchase  and  admitted  to  be  the 
line  of  the  lyouisiana  Purchase  as  far 
as  the  Rocky  Mountains  by  Great 
Britain,  and  thus  a  large  portion  of 
the  territory  now  lying  in  the  states 
of  Minnesota,  North  Dakota  and 
Montana  secured. 

According  to  the  treaty  of  1783 
our  limits  did  not  extend  beyond  the 
headwaters  of  the  Mississippi  as 
stated,  being  47  degrees  and  30  min- 
utes north  parallel,  and  Falconer  says 
that  "nothing  west  or  north  of  this 
line  (that  is,  a  line  from  the  head  of 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods  as  set  out  in 
the  treaty  of  1783  to  the  headwaters 
of  the  Mississippi)  was  granted  by 
Great  Britain  to  the  United  States  in 
1783,  and  nothing  north  of  the  head- 
waters of  the  Mississippi  was  retained 
by  France  under  the  treaty  of 
1763".  (a) 

What  we  acquired  north  of  the  47th 
degree  30  minutes  parallel  and  west 
of  a  line  drawn  from  the  head  of  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  and  the  Missis- 
sippi we  owe  entirely  to  the  purchase 

(a)     On  the  Mississippi  and  Oregon,  p.  35. 

37 


of  the  '  'colony  and  province  of  Louisi- 
ana" and  the  uncertainty  of  the  north- 
ern boundary  thus  acquired. 

In  those  early  negotiations  Great 
Britain  set  up  no  claim  to  the  terri- 
tory south  of  the  49th  parallel  and 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but 
different  efforts  were  made  "to  over- 
reach the  Americans  with  respect  to 
the  country  west  of  the  Rocky  Moiin  - 
tains."  And  without  presenting  any 
claim  "they  endeavored  to  leave  a 
nest-egg  for  future  pretentions  in  that 
quarter."  (a)  At  that  time  no  Amer- 
ican publisher  or  map-maker  was  en- 
gaged in  furnishing  arguments  to 
advance  British  pretensions. 

(a)     State   Papers  1S22-3  cited  iu  Bentou's  Thirty 
Years,  Vol.  1.  p.  51. 


38 


D 


he  boundaries  on  the  west  of  "the 
vast,  ill -defined  region  known 
as  lyouisiana,"  (a)  according 
to  Stoddard,  ran  from  "a  remarkable 
bend"  in  the  Rio  Bravo  "about  29 
degrees,  25  minutes,  north  latitude, 
near  which  is  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  Mexican  Mountains,"  and 
which  was  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  I^ouisiana  and  the  Spanish 
possessions,  and  there  "leaves  the 
river,  diverges  a  little  to  the  right,  and 
runs  along  to  the  tiorthwest  on  the 
summit  of  these  mountains  till  it  ter- 
minates in  the  46th  degree  of  north 
latitude"  (l)) .  But  Franquelins  map 
of  1684  does  not  carry  the  mountains 
further  north  than  the  40th  degree,  and 
nothing  north  of  the  40th  degree  par- 
allel by  this  map  is  admitted  to  belong 
to  Spain.  On  this  map  "la  Grande 
Riviere  des  Emissourites"  is  shown 
as  far  north  as  the  38  degree  north 
parallel.     On  the  other  hand,  the  map 

(a)     Roosevelt's  Winning  the  West,  Vol.  1,  p.  19. 
{b)     Stoddard's  Louisiana,  p.  146, 

39 


published  with  Charlevoix'  History 
of  New  France  "Dressee  par  N.  B. 
Ing  du  Roy,  et  Hydrg  de  la  Marine," 
dated  1743,  clearly  marks  an  advance 
of  geographical  knowledge,  as  well  as 
an  advance  of  the  French  claims  on 
this  continent.  The  New  Mexican 
Mountains  are  shown  to  extend  north 
to  the  42nd  or  43rd  degree  parallel, 
but  beyond  the  words  ' '  Nouvelle 
France"  are  carried  across  the  conti- 
nent from  the  Mer  de  I'Ouest  to  the 
Atlantic.  The  territory  south  of  "St. 
Fez' '  is  designated  as  "Nouveau  Mex- 
ique."  The  Missouri  seems  to  be 
laid  down  so  as  to  head  off  the  Mex- 
ican Mountains  extending  north  of  the 
Rio  Bravo  to  about  the  43rd  parallel. 
Certainly  these  two  maps  do  not  show 
that  the  Spanish  pretensions  extend 
as  far  as  the  "46th  degree  north  lati- 
tude." The  map  attached  to  the 
History  of  lyouisiana  by  du  Pratz,  and 
to  which  Stoddard  makes  reference, 
seems  to  carry  the  Spanish  boundaries 
no  farther  than  the  41st  degree  north 
latitude,  (a)  and  the  dotted  lines  on 

{a)    See  map  dated  1"57  attached  to  the  History  of 
Louisiaua  by  du  I'ratz,  London  Edition,  1763. 

40 


this  map  especially  show  an  attempt 
to  mark  the  boundary  line  between 
the  French  and  Spanish  possessions 
on  the  west  and  north. 

The  Spaniards  seemed  little  in- 
clined to  extend  their  claim  further 
eastward  than  the  summit  of  the 
so  -  called  Mexican  Mountains.  It 
is  true  that  in  1720  they  sent  an 
expedition  to  the  Missouri,  attempt- 
ing to  make  an  establishment  on 
that  river,  but  the  Indians  utterly 
destro3^ed  the  entire  partj',  and  after 
that  no  Spanish  efforts  were  made  to 
interfere  with  the  French  pretensions. 
( a )  For  over  eighty  years  the  French 
controlled,  to  their  sources,  all  the 
rivers  emptying  into  the  Mississippi 
from  the  west,  and  "hence  the  proba- 
bility' is  strong  that  they  (the  Spani- 
ards) considered  the  Mexican  Moun- 
tains, or  sources  of  the  rivers  in  them, 
as  the  western  limits  of  Louisiana" 
(^)  as  far  north  as  the  mountains  ran, 
or  were  known;  namel}^  to  about  the 
42nd    or   43rd   degree  north  latitude. 

(a)    See  Bossu's  Travels,  Vol.  1,  p.  151. 
(i)    vStoddard's  Louisiana,  p.  13'1. 

41 


It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
Colorado,  Trinity,  Red  River,  Arkan- 
sas, Platte  and  some  other  large  rivers 
have  their  springs  in  these  mountains. 
(a)  That  the  Spaniards  considered 
these  mountains  as  the  limit  dividing 
their  possessions  from  those  of  the 
French  is  also  shown  by  the  fact  that 
when  some  French  traders  made  a  tern  - 
porarj'  establishment  in  these  moun- 
tains for  the  purpose  of  trade,  and 
were  imprisoned  at  the  instance  of  the 
Santa  Fe  merchants,  because  they 
deemed  this  French  trading  establish- 
ment an  infringement  of  their  rights, 
they  were  ultimately  liberated  and 
their  goods  restored  to  them  by  a 
decision  of  the  superior  court  at  "the 
Havannah"  on  the  ground  that  the 
French  establishment  was  located  on 
the  west  side  of  the  summit  of  the 
Mexican  Mountains,  {d)  But  by  the 
treaty  of  1819  the  United  States 
relinquished  to  vSpain  the  district  of 
country  west  of  the  Sabine  and  south 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  Red  and 
Arkansas  Rivers,  and  a  line  drawn  on 

(a)  Stoddard's  Louisiana,  p.  146. 

(b)  See  Stoddard's  Louisiana,  p.  146. 

42 


the  meridian  from  the  source  of  the 
Arkansas  north  to  the  42nd  parallel  of 
latitude  was  definitely  made  the  west- 
ern boundary  of  Louisiana  and  the 
42nd  degree  north  parallel,  extending 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  was  also  fixed  as 
the  northern  limit  of  the  Spanish 
possessions,  this  being  about  the  line 
indicated  on  the  French  maps  as  the 
utmost  northern  limit  of  the  Spanish 
pretenisons.  (a) 

The  western  boundary  of  the  "pro- 
vince or  colony  of  Louisiana"  north 
of  the  42nd  parallel  has,  however, 
given  rise  to  great  controversy. 

In  the  "Account  of  Louisiana" 
already  referred  to  it  is  said  that  "the 
precise  boundaries  of  Louisiana  west- 
wardly  of  the  Mississippi,  though  very 
extensive,  are  at  present  enveloped  in 
some  obscurity. "  (l?)     No  discoveries 

(a)  "Before  we  conclude,  it  may  be  of  use  to  re- 
mark that  the  Shining  Mountains  and  the  Mexican 
Mountains,  though  often  confounded,  are,  in  a  great 
measure,  distinct.  The  former  are  the  Andes  of 
South  America;  the  latter  commence  some  distance 
to  the  northward  of  the  Gulf  and  run  to  the  left  of 
the  bank  of  the  Rio  Bravo,  and  extend,  in  a  north- 
erly direction,  a  little  to  the  eastward  of  Santa  Fe 
until  they  intersect  the  former.  They  are  probably 
branches  or  spurs  of  the  Shining  Mountains." 
(Stoddard's  Louisiana,  p.  149.) 

(A)     Page  1. 

43 


on  the  Missouri  beyond  the  Mandans 
were  accurately  detailed,  "though  the 
traders  have  been  informed  that  many 
large  navigable  waters  discharge  their 
waters  into  it  far  above  it,  and  that 
there  are  many  numerous  nations 
settled  on  them."  («) 

"The  extent  of  Louisiana,"  it  is 
said  in  the  secret  instructions  to  Gen- 
eral Victor,  "is  well  determined  on 
the  south  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  river 
called  Bravo,  from  its  mouth  to  about 
the  30th  degree  parallel.  The  line  of 
demarcation  stops  on  reaching  this 
point,  and  there  seems  never  to  have 
been  an}-  agreement  in  regard  to  this 
part  of  the  frontier.  The  further  we 
go  northward,  the  more  undecided  the 
boundary.  This  part  of  North  Amer- 
ica contains  little  more  than  uninhab- 
ited forests  or  Indian  tribes,  and  the 
necessity  of  fixing  a  boundary  has 
never  yet  been  felt  there.  There  also 
exists  none  between  Louisiana  and 
Canada."  {b) 

(a)  Page  28. 

(b)  Secret  Instructions  of  Decres  to  General  Vic- 
tor. Archives  de  la  Marine,  MMS.  cited  in  Henry 
Adams'  History  of  U.  S.,  3rd  Vol.,  p.  32. 

44 


And  in  a  memorial  prepared  in 
Paris  in  1718,  cited  by  Wiusor,  and 
in  which  is  outlined  a  plan  to  give 
Louisiana  a  dominating  position  in 
North  America,  it  was  urged  that  one 
branch  of  the  Missouri  led  to  the 
South  Sea,  and  that  on  that  route  a 
trade  could  be  opened  with  China  and 
Japan,  thus  showing  that  at  that  time 
the  French  claim  extended  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  (a) 

As  early  as  1720  it  was  conjectured 
that  west  of  the  headwaters  of  the 
Missouri  a  great  river  flowed  west- 
ward, and  Coxe  in  his  Carolana  makes 
one  of  the  branches  of  this  western 
stream  interlock  with  the  branches  of 
the  Missouri,  (d) 

The  uncertainty  of  the  boundaries 
of  Louisiana  in  this  quarter  did  not 
result  from  any  uncertainty  as  to  the 
claims  made  by  France  in  North 
America.  France  always  claimed  the 
Western  Ocean  as  the  boundary  of 
her  American  possessions.     As  early 

(a)     Winsor's  Miss.  Basin,  p.  112. 

(*)  Winsor's  Miss.  Basin,  p.  138  and  217.  Also 
see  Historical  Collection  of  Louisiana,  by  French, 
Vol.  2,  page  230,  where  Coxe's  work  is  given  in  full. 

45 


as  June  14th,  1671,  de  St.  Lusson  at  a 
great  gathering  of  all  the  Indian  tribes 
held  at  Sault  St.  Marys  "in  the  name 
of  the  most  High,  most  Mightj^  and 
most  Redoubtable  Monarch,  Louis 
XIV.  of  the  name,  the  most  Christian 
King  of  France  and  Navarre,"  took 
possession  of  all  the '  'countries,  rivers, 
lakes  and  tributaries  contiguous  and 
adjacent  thereunto  as  well  discovered 
as  to  be  discovered,  which  are  bounded 
on  the  one  side  by  the  Northern  and 
Western  seas  and  on  the  other  side  by 
the  South  sea,  including  all  its  length 
and  breadth . "  (a) 

And  I'Escarbot,  in  his  Histor>^  of 
New  France,  written  in  1687,  thus 
describes  its  limits:  "Our  Canada  has 
for  its  limits  on  the  west  side  the  lands 
as  far  as  the  sea  called  the  Pacific  on 
this  side  of  the  Tropic  of  Cancer."  (d) 

DuLuth  intended  in  1680  to  push  an 
expedition  westward  to  the  Salt  Water, 
which  he  supposed  to  be  the  Gulf  of 
California  and  only  twenty  days'  jour- 
ney distant,  (r) 

(rt)     nth  Wisconsin  Hist.  Col.,  p.  2S. 
(A)     Cited  in  Brewer's  Miss.  River  and  its  Sources- 
Minn.  Hist,  Col.,  Vol.  7,  p.  97,  note, 
(f)     Winsor's  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  p.  274. 

46 


In  1720  the  celebrated  Pere  Charle- 
voix was  expressly  commissioned  by 
the  French  Government  to  visit  Cana- 
da to  seek  a  route  to  the  Western  sea. 
In  the  Journal  of  the  Jesuits  for  the 
year  1720,  under  the  date  of  August 
7th,  his  arrival  is  thus  chronicled: 
"La  Pere  Charlevoix  arrived  from 
France  by  order  of  the  Court  to  col- 
lect information  for  the  discovery  of 
the  Mer  d'Occident.  He  is  to  re- 
turn by  Mobile."  (a) 

For  many  years  it  was  the  dream  of 
the  French  Jesuits  and  explorers  to 
find  the  "Sea  of  China"  by  a  river 
discharging  its  waters  into  the  Vermil- 
lion sea  or  Gulf  of  California. 

After  Marquette  discovered  from  the 
direction  of  the  Mississippi,  that  it 
probablj^  discharged  its  waters  into  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  he  says  that  he  hopes 
by  means  of  the  Pekitanoui  ( Missouri ) , 
according  to  the  reports  made  to  him 
by  the  savages,  "to  find  it  leading  to- 
wards California. ' '  From  the  savages 
he  writes:  "I  have  learned  that  by 
ascending  this  river,    (the  Missouri) 

(a)      59  Jesuits  Relations,  p.  235. 

47 


for  five  or  six  days  one  reaches  a  fine 
prairie  twenty  or  thirty  leagues  long. 
This  must  be  crossed  in  a  northwest - 
ernly  direction,  and  it  terminates  at 
another  small  river  on  which  one  may 
embark,  for  it  is  not  difl&cult  to  trans- 
fer canoes  in  so  fine  a  country  as  that 
prairie.  This  second  river  flows  to- 
wards the  Southwest  for  ten  or  fifteen 
leagues,  after  which  it  enters  a  lake 
small  and  deep,  which  flows  towards 
the  West,  where  it  falls  into  the  sea, 
and  I  do  not  despair  of  discovering  it 
some  day,  if  God  grant  me  the  cross 
and  health  to  do  so,  in  order  that  I 
may  preach  the  gospel  to  this  new 
world,  which  has  so  long  grovelled  in 
the  darkness  of  infidelity."  (a) 

And  IvaHontan  in  speaking  of  his 
pretended  journey  in  1688  up  the 
'%ong  River,"  supposed  to  be  the 
Missouri,  and  on  which  LaHontan 
may  or  may  not  have  traveled,  first 
mentions  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
then  sa5^s  that  on  a  deer  skin  map  the 
Indians  laid  down  a  river  flowing 
westward.      "All  they  could  say,"  he 

{a)     59  Jesuits's  Relations,  p.  143. 


writes,  "was  that  the  Great  River  of 
that  nation  runs  all  along  westward, 
and  that  the  Salt  Lake  into  which  it 
falls  is  300  leagues  in  circumference 
and  thirty  in  breadth ,  its  mouth  stretch  - 
ing  a  great  way  to  the  Southward." 
lyaHontan  usually  is  altogether  dis- 
credited and  deemed  unworthy  of  be  - 
lief,  but  information  to  some  extent 
correct  he  certainly  obtained,  and  some 
of  his  statements  have  been  confirmed 
by  subsequent  discoveries.  In  report- 
ing and  taking  for  true  the  fabulous 
tales  of  some  of  his  Indian  informants, 
and  reporting  them  without  discrimi- 
nation he  followed  the  foot -steps  of 
many  of  the  early  American  travelers 
and  chroniclers.  It  is  said  that  LaHon- 
tan  was  a  free  thinker  and  a  free  writ- 
er, and  that  therefore  his  work  and 
writings  were  traduced  and  discredit- 
ed, {a)  And  this  may  be  the  reason 
why  a  learned  priest  named  Babe  de- 
nounced the  pretended  claim  of  La 
Hontan  of  a  journey  up  the  "Long 
River. ' ' 

(a)     H.  H.  Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the  N,  W.,  Vol.  1,  p. 

889. 

49 


But  Babe  in  1716  wrote  to  De  L'Isle, 
Geographer  of  Sciences  in  Paris,  that 
towards  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi 
"there  is  a  highland  that  leads  to  the 
Western  Ocean,"  and  it  is  said  he 
greatly  tormented  the  Governor -Gen- 
eral of  Canada,  M.  Raudot  and  M. 
Duche  "to  endeavor  to  discover  this 
ocean." 

In  1731,  Sieur  de  la  Verendrye  (a) 
endeavored  to  establish  a  chain  of  forts 
and  posts  across  the  continent  as  far 
as  the  South  Sea.  He  gradually 
erected  his  forts,  trading  and  traffic - 
ing  westward.  In  1738  he  built  Fort 
La  Reine,  in  1742  reached  the  Yellow 
Stone.  On  the  first  of  January,  1743, 
his  eldest  son  Pierre,  accompanied  by 
his  brother  and  two  Frenchmen,  dis- 
covered and  faced  the  craggy  and 
snow -clad  Rocky  Mountains,  made 
the  ascent  near  the  present  site  of  Hel  - 
ena  and  took  possession  of  the  valley 
of  the  Missouri  for  France,  (d) 

And  speaking  of  la  Verendrye, 
Pere  Nau  says  in  his  letter  dated  Oct. 

(a)  The  name  of  Verendrye  according  to  Suite, 
spelled  fourteen  different  ways  in  different  docu- 
ments. 

(*)     H.  H.  Bancroft's  Hist,  of  Montana,  p.  600. 

50 


2,  1735.  "I  had  a  pretty  long  con- 
versation with  la  Verendrye,  who  is  in 
command  of  the  three  most  western 
forts.  I  nnderstood  from  the  interview 
that  not  much  reliance  can  be  placed 
on  what  he  says  concerning  white - 
bearded  savages.  The  Western  Sea 
would  have  been  discovered  long  ago 
if  people  had  wished  it.  Monsieur  de 
Count  de  Maurepas  is  right  when  he 
says  that  "the  officials  in  Canada  are 
looking  not  for  the  Western  Sea,  but 
for  the  Sea  of  Beaver."  (a) 

As  early  as  1724  M.  DuBourgmont 
made  extensive  explorations  northwest 
from  Fort  Orleans,  located  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Osage,  going  up  the  Mis- 
souri River  accompanied  by  a  few 
French  soldiers  and  a  large  party  of 
friendly  Indians. 

In  no  wise  did  the  work  of  explo- 
ration relax.  On  the  contrary  the 
claim  of  France  to  the  Western  Ocean 
as  the  boundary  of  her  American  pos- 
sessions was  always  asserted,  and 
constant  efforts  were  made  to  discover 
the  path  that  would  lead  to  that  ocean. 

(a)    68  Jesuits'  Relations,  p.  283, 

51 


A  map  accompanying  Charlevoix' 
History,  published  in  1743,  shows 
Mer  de  I^' Quest  as  the  western  boun- 
dary of  New  France,  (a)  This  map 
also  shows  that  the  "River  of  the 
West' '  is  laid  down  south  of  the  50th 
parallel  to  ''Ice  suivant  le  raport  des 
Sauvages  commence  la  Flux  et  re- 
flux" 

In  1758,  in  his  History  of  Louis- 
iana id),  M.  La  Page  du  Pratz  gives 
an  account  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Western  Sea  by  Moncachtape,  a  Yazoo 
Indian  living  among  the  Natchez,  and 
who  was  known  to  the  French  as 
r Interpret,  because  master  of  many 
languages.  Moncachtape  was  a  most 
remarkable  man,  possessed  of  a  re- 
markable mind  and  of  an  eager  thirst 
for  knowledge.  In  about  the  year 
1745,  so  du  Pratz  relates,  he  crossed 
the  Mississippi  to  explore  the  country 
along  the  sources  of  the  Missouri.  He 
spent  a  winter  with  the  Missouris, 
learned  the  language  of  the  Kansas 
Indians  residing  further  up  the  river, 

(a)    See  copy  of  map  Shea's  Translation  of  Charle- 
voix' History  of  New  France. 

(f>)     Vol.  2,  p.  120,  edition  of  1763,  London. 

52 


then  in  a  pirogue  began  to  ascend  the 
Great  River,  and  undismayed  by  the 
tales  of  peril,  finally  reached  the  snow- 
clad  Rocky  Mountains.  While  hesi- 
tating whether  to  proceed,  he  saw  a 
smoke  arise,  and  supposing  that  it 
came  from  a  camp,  he  found,  to  his 
joy,  that  he  was  not  mistaken  and 
that  some  thirty  men  and  women  of 
the  Otter  nation  were  moving  east- 
ward buffalo  hunting.  He  did  not 
understand  their  language,  but  made 
himself  understood  by  signs.  With 
one  of  those  Indians  returning  west 
as  a  guide,  Moncachtape  passed  over 
the  worst  part  of  the  rocky  route. 
For  nine  short  days  he  still  further 
ascended  the  waters  of  the  Missouri, 
then  marched  north  for  five  days,  and 
at  the  end  of  this  time  reached  a  clean 
and  beautiful  water  called,  for  this 
reason,  the  Beautiful  River,  and  fol- 
lowing this  river  with  his  guide,  ar- 
rived at  the  village  of  the  Otter  tribe. 
Here  our  Indian  explorer  remained 
for  a  fortnight  to  learn  some  of  the 
language,  then  departing  he  floated 
down  the  river  for  eighteen  daj^s, 
53 


where  he  remained  at  another  village 
with  a  friendly  Indian  tribe,  in  order 
to  learn  more  of  the  language,  further 
down  the  stream,  so  that  he  would 
be  able  to  understand  all  the  nations 
which  he  might  find  on  his  way  to 
the  Great  Water.  Finall}'  he  departed 
from  this  village,  and,  after  many 
incidents,  reached  a  people  residing 
then  one  day's  journey  from  the  ocean, 
and,  after  various  adventures,  he  jour- 
neyed along  the  coast  still  farther 
north  until  he  ascertained  that  all  was 
a  cold,  barren  and  desolate  waste, 
then  he  turned  his  face  homeward, 
where  he  arrived  after  an  absence  of 
five  years.  Here  du  Pratz  met  him, 
questioned  him  closely,  and  finally 
records  his  journejs  giving  it  as  his 
opinion  that  he  had  found  the  Western 
Sea,  so  much  discussed  in  Louisiana, 
and  which  all  were  so  desirous  to 
discover,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  it — the  mountains,  the  river  and 
the  sea  are  there  to-day,  as  Moncach- 
tape  described  them,  and  let  it  be 
remembered,  no  other  person,  white 
or  red,  so  far  as  know^i,  had  ever  be- 
54 


fore  performed  this  journey  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  Ocean 
by  way  of  the  Columbia  River,   (a) 

In  his  map  of  Louisiana  published  in 
1757  du  Pratz  shows  the  route  of  Mon- 
cachtape  and  the  Belle  River  flowing 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  westward. 
So  that  at  that  time  undoubtedly  the 
headwaters  of  the  Columbia  were  to 
some  extent  known  and  claimed  to 
belong  to  Louisiana.  Charlevoix  also 
came  to  to  the  conclusion  "in  a  gen- 
eral waj^  that  the  Missouri  somewhere 
in  its  springs  did  interlock  with  other 
waters  which  sought  towards  the  west 
an  unknown  sea."  (d) 

It  is  certain  that  Jefferson  was  fa- 
miliar with  the  narrative  of  du  Pratz 
of  the  journey  of  Moncachtape,  as 
would  appear  from  his  letter  of  in- 
struction to  Lewis,  as  well  as  with 
Charlevoix's  views  and  maps. 

Bougainville,  Chief  of  Staff  of 
Montcalm,  in  a  memoir  on  the  State 
of  Canada,  published  in  1757,  gives 
and    account    of    the    posts    west    of 

(a)  H.  H.  Bancroft's  History  of   the  N.  W.,  Vol.  1, 
p.  607. 

(b)  Winsor's  Miss.  Basiu,  p.  138. 

55 


Lake  Superior  and  says:  "La  Mer 
d' Quest  is  a  post  that  includes  the 
Forts  St.  Pierre,  St.  Charles,  Bourbon, 
de  la  Reine,  Dauphine,  Paskoyas  and 
des  Prairies — all  of  which  are  built 
with  palisades  that  could  give  protec- 
tion only   against  the   Indians." 

Although  under  this  name  the  post 
of  "the  Sea  of  the  West' '  was  embrac- 
ed, according  to  Bougainville,  the 
whole  country  from  Rainy  Lake  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  from  North 
Saskatchewan  to  the  Missouri,  and  the 
Sea  was  not  mentioned  as  boundary, 
the  fact  that  all  the  forts  embraced 
within  this  enormous  district  were 
designated  "as  a  post"  named  "La 
Merd'Ouest,"  {a)  significantly  points 
to  the  fact  that  the  Sea  of  the  West  was 
considered  the  western  boundary. 

Marboissays:  "According  to  old 
documents  the  Bishopric  of  Louisiana 
extended  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the 
limits  of  the  dioceses  thus  defind  were 
secure  from  all  dispute.  But  this  was 
at  most  a  matter  of  expectancy,  and 
the  Indians  of  these  regions  never  had 

(«)     Warren's  Hist,  of  the  Ojibways.  p.  426. 
56 


any  suspicion  of  the  spiritual  juris- 
diction which  it  was  designed  to  ex- 
ercise over  them.  Besides  it  had  no 
connection  with  the  rights  of  sover- 
eignty of  property. "  (a)  No  one  must 
have  known  better  than  Marbois  that 
the  fact  that  the  Bishopric  of  lyouisi- 
ana  was  extended  as  far  as  the  Pacific 
Ocean  was  based  on  the  idea  that  the 
territory  was  French  territory  and  the 
expectation  that  the  civil  I'urisdiction 
of  the  French  Government  would  be 
extended  so  as  to  include  the  limits 
so  described.  It  is  true  the  country 
was  unexplored,  but  it  was  certainly 
claimed  to  be  within  the  French  sphere 
of  discovery.  Possessed  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  hinterland  and  the  head- 
waters of  the  Columbia,  France  natur- 
ally would  claim  the  control  of  the 
Columbia  to  its  mouth,  and  to  the 
ocean,  just  as  France  claimed  posses- 
sion of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
by  virtue  of  discovering  the  headwaters 
of  this  stream  and  following  its  waters 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  although  prior 
to  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  the 

(a)     Marbois'  Louisiana,  p.  284. 

57 


Mississippi  by  France  Spanish  explor- 
ers had  crossed  and  re -crossed  the 
stream  at  various  times,  and  although 
Spain  claimed  exclusive  control  of  the 
whole  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  the  Gulf  itself  was  considered  a 
Spanish  inland  sea. 

So  also  when  France  ceded  to  Great 
Britain  her  claim  to  the  Hudson  Bay 
country  the  claim  was  expanded  to  the 
Northern  Ocean  and  westwardly  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  from  her  settlements  on 
that  bay.  {a) 

After  the  province  of  Louisiana 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Spain  the 
work  of  exploration  did  not  cease. 
The  limits  of  geographical  and  topo- 
graphical knowledge  of  the  great  in- 
terior of  the  continent  were  constantly 
extended  and  enlarged,  but  in  accor- 
dance with  the  well  known  and  illiberal 
policy  of  Spain,  no  publication,  or  at 
most  meagre  publications  of  the  dis- 
coveries and  labors  of  the  Spanish 
discoverers  were  made.  Their  reports 
were  buried  in  the  Spanish  archives, 
and  often  the  explorers  and  voyagers 

{a)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5,  p.  454. 

58 


of  other  nations  reaped  the  glory  and 
reward  more  justly  due  the  Spaniards 
by  right  of  priority. 

During  the  Spanish  dominion  of 
lyouisiana,  frequent  expeditions  were 
made  up  the  Missouri  and  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Columbia. 

That  the  Spanish  authorities  were 
actively  at  work  to  enlarge  the  limits 
of  human  knowledge  and  to  carry 
explorations  beyond  the  sources  of  the 
Missouri,  expecting  thus  to  discover 
the  Pacific,  claiming  all  the  interme- 
diate country  as  within  "the  province 
and  colony  of  lyouisiana"  is  clearly 
shown  by  a  petition  addressed  to  Don 
Manual  Gayoso  de  lycmos,  Governor - 
General  of  the  Province  of  lyouisiana, 
by  one  Joseph  Robideaux,  Indian 
trader  in  St.  Louis,  setting  forth  his 
grievances  against  Claymorgan,  and 
in  which  he  alleges  that  on  May  12, 
1794, Don  Zenon  Trudeau,  lyieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  western  part  of  Illi- 
nois, called  the  traders  together  to 
unite  in  a  co-partnership,  consolidate 
their  respective  capitals  to  control 
the  trade  in  peltries  then  carried  on  in 
59 


the  upper  Missouri,  explaining  to 
them  at  the  same  time  that  it  was  his 
purpose  "to  enlighten  the  age  in  re- 
gard lo  that  portion  of  the  globe,  as 
yet  so  little  known,"  and  that  to  this 
purpose  "he  required  that  in  pursuing 
this  trade  those  engaged  in  it  would 
pay  attention  to  unite  to  the  employees 
they  might  send  to  the  country,  en- 
lightened persons,  and  use  ever}'  ex- 
ertion to  penetrate  the  sources  of  the 
Missouri,  and  beyond,  if  possible,  to 
the  Southern  Ocean,"  and  to  acquire 
a  correct  knowledge  of  the  country 
till  then  almost  entirely  unknown,  (a) 
And  in  another  petition,  dated  March 
1st,  1797,  Don  Jaque  Claymorgan 
claims  that  he  was  employed  by  the 
Spanish  Government  to  explore  the 
Indian  nations  as  far  as  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  that  in  order  to  defray  the 
excessive  expenses  and  at  the  same 
time  to  keep  off  the  foreign  traders  of 
Hudson  Bay  and  Lake  Superior,  an 
annual  allowance  of  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars was  made  by  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment.    The  Spanish    company,  of 

{a)     Billon's  Annals  of  St.  I.ouis,  Vol.  1,  p.  2S1. 
60 


which  Claymorgan  was  the  leading 
spirit,  was  organized  in  1794,  in  St. 
L,ouis,  as  stated  in  his  petition  by 
Robideaux,  with  the  object  to  engage 
in  the  fur  trade  on  the  upper  Missouri, 
and  by  a  special  roj^al  order,  dated 
May  27,  1792,  the  organization  of  the 
company  was  approved,  and  it  was 
authorized  to  maintain  a  hundred 
armed  men  in  its  forts  at  royal  ex- 
pense. The  money,  however,  stipu- 
lated to  be  paid  these  soldiers  in  the 
forts,  was  never  paid.  A  land  grant 
was  afterwards  made  to  Claymorgan, 
and  in  supporting  his  land  grant  he 
refers  to  his  services  as  an  explorer 
and  the  usual  method  of  payment  by 
grants  of  land  under  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment. Stoddard  says :  "The  Span- 
ish Government  never  gave  any  sal- 
aries to  its  provincial  officers,  nor  any 
gratuities  in  money,  to  those  who, 
amid  dangers  and  at  great  expense, 
explored  unknown  regions  and  made 
new  discoveries,  but  when  compensa- 
tions were  solicited,  it  was  usual  to 
to  bestow  tracts  of  land  instead  of 
money."    (a)      Accordingly,  a    large 

(a)    Sketches  of  Louisiana,  p.  257. 
61 


grant  of  many  thousand  acres  of  land 
was  g^ranted  by  Lieutenant-Governor 
Zenon  Trudeau  to  Claymorgan,  and  in 
an  argument,  after  the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana,  to  secure  a  confirmation  of 
this  claim  by  Congress,  it  was  claimed 
and  asserted  that  he  crossed  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  reached  the 
Pacific.  His  representatives  said  "to 
explore  the  sources  of  the  Missouri 
and  to  arrive  at  the  South  Sea  by 
crossing  the  Shining  Mountains,  was 
a  project  honorable  to  those  who 
performed  it  and  interesting  to  the 
human  race.  It  was  a  scheme  of 
discovery  calculated  to  enlarge  the 
boundaries  of  human  knowledge,  to 
open  new  sources  of  national  wealth, 
to  carry  the  light  of  civilization  to 
many  unlettered  barbarians,  and  in 
time  to  revive,  upon  the  Western 
coast  of  America,  the  fame  of  the  an- 
cient cities  which  rose  successfully 
upon  the  different  channels  of  East- 
ern commerce  and  fell  with  its  loss. 
It  was  an  enterprise  full  of  peril,  of 
difficulty  and  of  glory.  It  was  con- 
ceived under  the  enlightened  admin - 
62 


istration  of  the  Governor -General  of 
Louisiana,  the  Baron  de  Carondelet, 
and  was  executed  under  the  patronage 
of  our  own  immortal  Jefferson.  The 
names  of  Lewis  and  Clark  live  under 
the  recollections  of  this  grand  event. 
Their  precursor  in  the  path  of  peril, 
but  not  in  renown,  was  Don  Jaque 
Claj-morgan.  He  was  the  chosen  in- 
strument of  Baron  de  Carondelet.  He 
embarked  his  fortune  to  make  discov- 
eries, to  found  a  commercial  company, 
to  conciliate  barbarians,  to  make  head 
against  British  influence  and  to  make 
for  his  king  the  advantage  he  had  by 
the  establishments  of  forts  and  gar- 
risons."  (a) 

Among  others  James  McKay  was 
also  authorized  to  make  a  voyage  of 
discovery  up  the  Missouri  to  last  for 
six  years  by  Carondelet.  He  was 
identified  with  the  Claymorgan  Com- 
mercial Company  and  secured  a  land 
grant  for  his  alleged  services,  but  how 
far  northwest  he  went  or  what  discov- 
eries he  made  has  not  been  recorded. 

(a)    American  State  Papers,  Pub.  Lands,  Vol.  3,  p. 
270. 

63 


Also  a  map  said  to  have  been  ac- 
curate of  the  Missouri  River  was  made 
by  a  Mr.  Evans  for  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment as  far  as  the  Mandans,  and 
this  map  was  afterwards  transmitted 
by  Jefferson  to  Lewis  to  aid  him  on 
his  voj^age  of  exploration,  (a) 

While  thus  from  the  interior  explo- 
rations were  made  of  the  upper  portion 
of  the  Missouri  Basin  and  the  head  - 
waters  of  the  Columbia,  the  Spaniards 
were  not  idle  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
Leaving  out  of  view  the  earl}'  vo5'ages 
along  the  northwest  coast,  it  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  the  whole  extent 
of  the  northwest  coast  territory  was 
formal^  taken  possession  of  by  Juan 
Perez  in  1773,  and  that  he  carefully 
examined  the  whole  littoral. 

In  1775  a  second  expedilion  under 
Bruno  de  Heceta  was  sent  out,  con- 
sisting of  four  vessels,  and  on  June 
13th,  in  latitude  47  degrees  and  30 
minutes  Europeans  first  set  foot  on 
the  soil  of  the  coast.  Capt.  Heceta 
and  a  few  sailors  landed  in  the  morn- 
ing, erected  a  cross  and  took  actual 

(a)     Lewis  and  Clerk's  Expedition,  Vol.  1  p.  XXXII 
(Coues'  Edition.) 

64 


possession.  Sailing  along  the  coast 
on  the  17th  of  August  Hecata  in  the 
afternoon  discovered  a  bay  with  a 
strong  current  and  eddies,  indicating 
the  mouth  of  a  great  river  or  strait  in 
latitude  46  degrees  and  9  minutes,  and 
which  he  named  Bahia  de  la  Asuncion , 
calling  the  northern  point  San  Roque, 
and  the  southern  Cabo  Frondoso,  this 
being  what  is  now  called  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  River,  between  Capes 
Disappointment  and  Adams.  No  fur- 
ther explorations  were  attemped.  The 
reports  of  these  expeditions  were  not 
published,  and  by  this  mistaken  poli- 
icy  the  Spanish  navigators  lost  most 
of  the  honor  due  them,  (a) 

So  that  if  any  doubt  existed  as  to 
whether  Louisiana  extended  to  the 
Western  Sea  these  discoveries  and 
this  formal  occupation  of  the  country 
would  seem  to  have  undoubtedly  per- 
fected the  title  of  Spain  to  this  part  of 
Louisiana. 

Jefferson  even  before  the  treaty  of 
cession  in  a  message  to  Congress  in 
1803  suggested  an  expedition  up  the 

(a)     H.  H.  Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the'N.  W.,  Vol.  1,  p 
158,  et  seq. 

65 


Missouri  to  secure  the  trade  of  the 
Indian  tribes  residing  along  that  river, 
and  "offering,  according  to  best  ac- 
counts, a  continued  navigation  from 
its  sources,  and  possibly  with  a  single 
portage  from  the  Western  Ocean," 
and  he  thought  that  "an  intelligent 
officer  with  ten  or  twelve  chosen  men, 
fit  for  the  enterprise"  might  "explore 
the  whole  line  even  to  the  Western 
Ocean,  have  conferences  with  the  na- 
tives on  subjects  of  commercial  inter- 
course, get  admission  among  them  for 
our  traders  as  others  are  admitted," 
etc.,  and  requested  from  Congress  an 
appropriation  of  $2500  for  the  purpose 
of  extending  the  external  commerce 
of  the  United  States. 

From  his  letter  of  instructions  to 
Lewis,  dated,  June  13,  1803,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Jefferson  thought  the  I^ouis- 
iana  Purchase  extended  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  although  in  a  letter  dated 
August  12,  1803,  addressed  to  Mr. 
Breckenridge  he  says:  "The  boun- 
dary which  I  deem  not  admitting  ques- 
tion of  are  the  highlands  on  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  Mississippi,  enclosing 
66 


all  its  waters,  the  Missouri,  of  course." 
To  that  extent  it  is  to  be  inferred  from 
this  letter  he  considered  the  boundary 
as  being  undoubted.  As  to  how  far 
further  west  the  boundary  might  or 
could  extend  was  evidently  an  open 
question  with  him. 

In  another  letter  addressed  to  I^ewis 
he  says:  "The  acquisition  of  the 
country  through  which  you  are  to  pass 
has  inspired  the  country  generally  with 
a  great  deal  of  interest  in  your  enter- 
prise." {a)  Thus  indicating  that  the 
country  which  Lewis  and  Clark  were 
to  explore  had  been  acquired  by  the 
United  States. 

The  first  sentence  of  the  History  of 
Lewis  and  Clark's  Expedition  "on 
the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  in  the  year 
1803,  April  30th,  the  attention  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was 
earnestly  directed  towards  exploring 
the  entire  territory"  also  clearly  indi- 
cates that  the  purpose  was  to  explore 
a  territory  supposed  to  have  been  ac- 
quired by  the  United  States,  (d) 

(a)  Lewis  &  Clark's  Expedition,  Vol.  1.  p.  XXIII. 
(Coues'  Edition.) 

(b)  Lewis  &  Clark's  Expedition— Coues'  Edition. 
Vol.  1,  p.  1. 

67 


In  the  "Preface  by  the  Publisher" 
to  the  Journal  of  Patrick  Gass,  "one 
of  the  persons  employed  in  the  expe- 
dition" of  Lewis  and  Clark,  it  is  said, 
in  speaking  of  the  country  explored, 
that  "it  will  not  be  forgotten  that  an 
immense  sum  of  treasure  has  been 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  this  coun- 
try, and  that  it  is  now  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  United  States."  (a) 

Jefferson,  in  his  message  of  Janu- 
ary 18,  1803,  before  the  purchase,  and 
when  France  had  acquired  Louisiana 
from  Spain,  says:  "The  nation  claim- 
ing the  territory  (Spain)  regarding 
this  as  a  literary  pursuit  which  it  is 
in  the  habit  of  permitting  within  its 
dominions,  would  not  be  disposed  to 
view  it  with  jealousy,  even  if  the 
expiring  state  of  its  interests  there  did 
not  render  it  a  matter  of  indifference. " 
And  this  also  clearly  shows  that  he 
then  considered  the  country  to  be 
explored  as  a  part  of  Louisiana.   {/}) 

As  stated,  the  boundary  of  the  coun- 
try acquired  was  uncertain  and  might 

(a)  Journal  of  Patrick  Gass,  p.  Vll-Pittsburg,  1807. 

(b)  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol. 
1,  p.  354. 

68 


become  a  matter  of  dispute,  but  that 
Jefferson  intended,  by  this  exploration, 
to  claim  as  a  part  of  the  lyouisiana 
Purchase  all  that  France  ever  claimed, 
cannot  be  denied.  At  the  same  time  it 
is  evident  that  our  claim  was  carefully 
advanced,  so  as  not  needlessly  to 
antagonize  Spain,  who  was  much  dis- 
satisfied with  the  treaty.  In  his 
message  he  cautiously  says:  "The 
appropriation  of  $2500  'for  the  pur- 
pose of  extending  the  external  com- 
merce of  the  United  States,'  while 
understood  and  considered  by  the 
Executive  as  giving  the  Legislative 
sanction,  would  cover  the  undertaking 
from  notice  and  prevent  the  obstruc- 
tions which  interested  individuals 
might  otherwise  previously  prepare 
in  its  way."      (a) 

In  his  message  of  December,  1805, 
Jefferson  complains  that  Spain,  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  claimed  as  a 
boundary  "a  line  which  would  have 
left  us  but  a  string  of  land  on  that 
bank  of  the  River  Mississippi."  {b) 

(a)  See  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents, 
Vol.  1,  p.  354. 

(*)  See  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents, 
Vol.  1,  p.  389. 

69 


His  wisdom  in  at  once  causing  our 
new  acquisition  to  be  explored  and 
mapped  in  every  direction  was  fully 
vindicated  by  subsequent  events,  and 
especially  the  expedition  of  Lewis  and 
Clark  across  the  Rocky  Mountains 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  almost 
certain  that  if  Jefferson  had  taken 
the  narrow  view  as  to  the  boundaries 
of  Louisiana  that  are  advanced  by 
some  now,  with  so  much  confi- 
dence, that  the  northwest  coast  would 
have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  England. 
A  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  then  placed  no  value  on 
the  trans -montane  country,  and  the 
broad  claim  made  for  the  Pacific  as 
a  I/Ouifiiana  boundary  was  ridiculed, 
by  many,  because  the  country  was 
considered  worthless  and  too  remote. 

In  February,  1806,  in  a  special 
message,  Jefferson  advised  Congress 
of  the  success  of  the  expedition  of 
Lewis  and  Clark,  and  that  the  explor- 
ing party  had  passed  the  winter  at  the 
Mandans,  about  1600  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri,  and  to  which 
point  the  Spanish  Government  caused 
70 


the  river  to  be  mapped  by  Evans, 
Also  that  the  country  further  west, 
between  the  Missouri  and  the  Pacific, 
from  the  34th  to  the  54th  degree  of 
latitude,  had  been  crossed,  and  he 
transmitted  a  statistical  view  "of  the 
Indian  nations  inhabiting  the  territory 
of  L,ouisiana  and  the  countrj^  adjacent 
to  its  northern  and  western  borders,  of 
their  commerce,  and  other  interesting 
circumstances  respecting  them."  (a) 
According  to  Martin,  "Since  the 
French  enjoyed  the  undisputed  pos- 
session of  lyouisiana,  its  extent  in 
their  opinion  had  scarcely  any  bounds 
to  the  northwest ;  and  its  limits  were 
ill  defined  everywhere,  except  on  the 
sea  coast.  As  its  sovereign  claimed 
all  the  neighboring  country,  which 
was  without  inhabitants  or  occupied 
by  savage  enemies,  the  demarcation 
of  its  limits  was  impossible,  even  if  it 
had  been  desirable."  But  he  states 
erroneously,  that  by  the  Nootka 
Convention,  Spain  ceded  to  England 
the  northwest  coast  as  far  south  as  the 
boundary  of  California  and  says,  that 

(a)     Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol./ 
1,  p.  398.  ' 

71 


"where  New  Albion  ended  Louisiana 
was  said  to  begin. "  («)  BytheNootka 
Convention  no  territorial  rights  were 
ceded  to  Great  Britain,  and  conse- 
quently New  Albion,  by  which  name 
English  geographers  designated  the 
whole  northwest  coast,  was  not  ex- 
tended south  to  the  boundary  of  Cal- 
ifornia, as  Judge  Martin  supposed.  All 
Spain  ceded  by  the  Nootka  Convention 
was  that  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain 
should  not  be  disturbed  or  molested 
in  navigating  or  fishing  on  the  Pacific 
or  Southern  Ocean,  or  in  landing  on 
the  coasts  of  those  seas  in  places  not 
already  occupied  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  on  their  commerce  with  the 
natives  or  making  settlements.  These 
rights  up  to  1790  Spain  claimed  ex- 
clusively in  regard  to  the  Pacific  and 
Southern  Oceans  and  by  this  conven- 
tion ceded  to  Great  Britain.  The  war 
however,  of  1796  between  Spain  and 
Great  Britain  abrogated  the  conven- 
vion.  {/?). 

(a)  Martin's  History  of  Louisiana.  Vol.  2,  p.  201. 

(b)  See  Greenhow's  Oregon,  p.  318,  where  the  sub- 
ject is  fully  and  exhaustively  discussed,  and  it  is 
clearly  slio^vn  that  by  the  Nootka  Convention  Great 
Uritain  acquired  no  territorial  rights. 

72 


Generally  at  the  time  of  the  acqui- 
sition the  "colony  and  province"  of 
lyouisiana  was  considered  to  extend 
indefinitely  west.    Brackenridge  says : 

To  the  westward  no  limits  were 
ever  assigned  by  the  French  while 
they  possessed  Ivouisiana,  but  it  was 
considered  as  including  at  least  all  the 
country  whose  streams  either  directly 
or  indirectly  discharged  themselves 
into  the  Mississippi."  (a)  But  when 
Brackenridge  published  his  work  in 
1813  he  admitted  that  then  "our  geo- 
graphers had  boldly  claimed  to  the 
Pacific."  Although  he  was  not  pre- 
pared to  go  so  far,  he  says  "that  our 
right  is  much  better  supported  than 
that  of  any  other  nation  by  reason  of 
our  exploring  expedition  and  our 
establishments  for  trading  with  the 
Indians." 

John  Mason  Peck,  an  able  and  dis- 
tinguished writer  on  all  subjects 
relating  to  the  history  of  the  west,  also 
says,  that  by  the  aquisition  of  I^ouisi- 
ana  the  United  States  "extended  her 
boundaries  to  the  Pacific  Ocean."  (d) 

(a)     Brackenridge's  Views  of  Louisiana,  p.  61. 
(*)    vSee  Aunals  of  the  West,  page  534. 

73 


And  again,  that  in  Upper  Louisiana 
was  included  "all  the  vast  regions  of 
the  West,  far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
south  of  the  49th  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude unclaimed  b^'  Spain."  (a) 

In  repl}'  to  the  counter  statement 
made  by  the  British  Minister,  Packen- 
ham,  in  1844,  who  in  it  quoted  the 
letter  of  Jefferson  to  Breckenridge 
defining  the  boundaries  of  lyouisiana 
on  the  west,  Calhoun  said:  "It  is 
manifest  from  the  extract  itself  that  the 
object  of  Mr.  Jefferson  was  not  to 
state  the  extent  of  the  claim  acquired 
with  Louisiana,  but  simply  to  state 
how  far  its  unquestioned  boundaries 
extended;  and  those  he  limited  west- 
wardly  by  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It 
is  in  like  manner  manifest  from  the 
document,  as  cited  by  the  countcrstate- 
ment,  that  his  object  was  not  to  deny 
that  our  claims  extend  to  the  territory, 
but  simply  expressed  his  opinion  of 
the  impolicy  of  in  the  then  state  of  our 
relations  with  Spain  of  bringing  them 
forward.  This  so  far  from  denying 
that  we  had  claims  admits   them  by 

(a)    Aunals  of  the  West,  page  542. 

74 


the  clearest  implication.  If  indeed  in 
either  case  his  opinion  had  been  equiv- 
ocally expressed,  the  prompt  measure 
adopted  by  him  to  explore  the  territory 
after  the  treat}^  was  negotiated,  but 
before  it  was  ratified,  clearly  shows 
that  it  was  his  opinion  not  only  that 
we  had  acquired  claims  to  it,  but  very 
important  claims  which  deserved 
prompt  attention."  (a) 

But  it  is  said  that  the  first  descrip- 
tion of  the  western  boundary  of  Louis- 
iana of  any  authority  is  the  grant  of 
September  17,  1712,  made  by  Louis 
XIV  to  Crozat — and  that  the  western 
limits  fixed  by  this  grant  must  control 
the  territorial  limits.  The  grant  em- 
powered Crozat  "to  carry  on  the  ex- 
clusive trade  in  all  the  territories  by  us 
possessed  and  bounded  by  New  Mexico 
and  those  of  the  English  in  Carolina. 
All  the  establishments,  posts,  harbors, 
rivers,  and  especially  the  post  and 
harbor  of  Dauphine  Island,  formerly 
called  Massacre  Island,  the  River  St. 
Louis,  formerly  called  the  Mississippi, 
from  the  seashore  to  the  Illinois,  to- 

(a)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5.  p.  454, 
75 


gether  with  the  River  St.  Phillip, 
formerly  called  the  Missouri  River, 
and  the  St.  Jerome,  formerly  called 
the  Wabash  (the  Ohio),  with  all  the 
countries,  territories,  lakes  inland, 
and  the  rivers  emptying  directly  or 
indirectly  into  that  part  of  the  River 
St.  Louis.  ''^  **  All  the  said  territories, 
countries,  streams  and  islands  we  will 
to  be  and  remain  comprised  under  the 
name  of  the  'Government  of  Louis- 
iana,' which  shall  be  dependent  on 
the  general  government  of  New  France 
and  remain  subordinate  to  it ;  and  we 
will,  moreover,  that  all  the  territories 
which  we  possess  on  this  side  of  the 
Illinois  be  united  as  far  as  need  to  be 
to  the  general  Government  of  New 
France  and  form  apart  thereof,  reserv- 
ing to  ourselves  to  increase,  if  we 
think  proper,  the  extent  of  the  Govern  - 
ment  of  Louisiana,  "(a)  By  the  bound- 
aries thus  set  forth  the  entire  water- 
shed of  the  Mississippi  was  included 
in  the  Territory  of  Louisiana.  Un- 
questionably the  territory  and  govern- 
ment   thus    created    did    not    extend 

(u)   Wallace — I,ouisiana  and  lUiuois  under  French 
Rule.  p.  235. 

76 


beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  because 
that  great  range  divides  the  waters 
flowing  into  the  Pacific  from  those 
flowing  into  the  Atlantic;  but  this 
ought  not  be  construed  to  mean  that 
France  did  not  claim  at  a  later  date 
that  Louisiana  extended  to  the  Pacific, 
or  that  the  rights  of  France  were 
limited  and  curtailed  by  the  western 
mountains. 

One  salient  fact  already  pointed  out 
in  support  of  the  contention  that 
Louisiana  reached  to  the  shores  of 
the  Pacific  is  unqualifiedly  admitted 
by  Marbois,  namely,  that  the  Bishopric 
of  Louisiana  was  bounded  by  that 
ocean,  {a) 

It  is  also  certain  that  the  limits  of 
Louisiana  as  originally  defined  in  1712 
in  the  grant  to  Sieur  Crozat,  were  not 
intended  by  the  French  king  to  be  the 
final  boundaries  of  the  "colony  or 
province,"  because  in  the  first  article 
defining  the  powers,  duties  and  re- 
strictions imposed  on  Crozat,  it  is 
expressly  provided  that  the  King  re- 
serves the  liberty  "of  enlarging  as  we 

(a)    Ante  page  56. 

77 


shall  think  fit,  the  extent  of  the 
government  of  the  said  country  of 
Louisiana. ' '  Accordingly,  as  we  have 
seen  in  1717,  the  Illinois  country  was 
detached  from  Canada  and  added 
to  Louisiana.  The  proces -verbal 
of  LaSalle  claiming  the  entire 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  with  all 
its  affluents  as  well  as  all  the 
country  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de 
Palmas  (a  river  about  100  leagues 
from  the  River  Panuco,  Tampico, 
Mexico)  no  more  defined  the  final 
limits  of  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana, 
and  such  as  those  boundaries  might 
finally  become,  than  the  grant  to  Sieur 
Crozat.  The  whole  water -shed  of  the 
Mississippi  was  claimed  both  at  the 
village  of  Kapaha,  on  the  14th  of 
March,  1682,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  on  the  19th  of  April,  1682. 
But  OH  the  14th  of  June,  1671,  St. 
Lusson,  at  St.  Marys  of  the  Falls,  as  we 
have  seen,  took  possession  of  all  the 
"countries,  rivers,  lakes  and  tribu- 
taries contiguous  and  adjacent  thereun- 
to, as  well  discovered  as  to  be  discov- 
ered, which  are  bounded  on  the  one 
78 


side  by  the  Northern  and  Western  Seas 
and  on  the  other  side  by  the  South  Sea, 
including  all  its  length  and  breadth," 
and  accordingly  as  has  been  shown  on 
several  maps  the  limits  of  Louisiana 
were  carried  beyond  the  sources  of  the 
Mississippi  to  the  basin  of  Lake  Win- 
nipeg, and  even  as  far  as  the  highlands 
encircling  Hudson  Bay.  The  claim 
of  the  territory  thus  added  to  the 
"colony  or  province  of  Louisiana" 
must  be  found  not  in  the  proces- 
verbal  as  promulgated  by  LaSalle,  or 
the  limits  of  Louisiana  as  defined  by 
the  grant  to  Crozat,  but  in  the  claim 
made  b^^  St.  Lusson  for  France  in  1671 
as  well.  Also  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  colonial  ministers  of  the 
French  king  objected  to  the  dots  de- 
fining the  limits  of  the  "colony  or 
province  of  Louisiana"  on  French 
maps,  because  boundaries  thus  indi- 
cated might  furnish  arguments  to 
foreign  powers  inimical  to  French 
claims  and  pretensions,  (a) 

Again,  when  by  treaty    between 
Great    Britain    and    France,    Canada 

(a)    Ante,  page  14. 

79 


with  all  its  dependencies  was  ceded  to 
Great  Britain  in  1763,  the  boundaries 
between  the  Hudson  Bay  territories 
ceded  b}^  treaty  of  Utrecht,  1713,  and 
Louisiana  remained  undetermined,  (a) 
By  the  treaty  of  1763  France  ceded 
"in  full  right  Canada  with  all  its  de- 
pendencies," and  Great  Britain  "in 
order  to  establish  peace  on  solid  and 
durable  foundations  and  to  remove 
forever  all  subjects  of  dispute  with  re- 
gard to  the  limits  of  the  British  and 
French  territories  on  the  continent  of 
America"  agreed  that  in  future  "the 
boundaries  between  the  dominions  of 
his  Britanic  Majesty  and  those  of  his 
most  Christain  Majesty  in  that  part  of 
the  world  shall  be  fixed  irrevocably 
by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of 
the  River  Mississippi  from  its  source 
to  the  River  Iberville,  etc."  Hence, 
it  is  claimed  as  we  have  seen  by  Fal- 
coner that  Louisiana  only  extends  as 
far  north  as  the  source  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, 47  degrees,  30  minutes  north, 
and  then  west  to  the  mountains,  (/') 
and  not  to  the  49th  parallel  as  univers- 
ally understood  and  claimed. 

(a)    See  Greenhow's  Oregon,  p.  140. 

ib)     On  the  Mississippi  and  Oregon,  p.  61. 

80 


The  theory,  however,  that  the 
"colony  and  province  of  Louisiana" 
embraced  the  limits  defined  by  the 
water-shed  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  was  early  denied  by  Great 
Britain,  and  in  the  interest  of  her 
settlements  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 
England  claimed  for  its  settlements 
specific  limits  along  the  coasts  or  bays 
on  which  English  settlements  were 
formed,  and  an  extension  across  the 
the  entire  continent  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  A  map  published  in  Paris  in 
1757  clearly  shows  that  the  French 
fully  understood  the  from  sea -to -sea 
character  of  the  English  pretensions — 
heavy  black  lines  running  across  the 
continent,  showing  the  north  and  south 
limits  of  Virginia  and  other  colonies, 
and  that  these  pretensions  conflicted 
with  the  French  and  Spanish  claims 
to  the  "western  sea"  as  the  boundary 
of  their  possessions.  This  map  is 
entitled  "Carte  des  Pretentions  des 
Anglois  dans  I'AmeriqueSeptentrion- 
ale  suivant  leurs  Chartres  tant  sur  les 
possessions  de  la  France  que  sur  celles 
81 


del'Espagne."  (a)  These  conflicting 
claims  led  to  the  struggle  between 
France  and  England  in  America,  and 
in  that  struggle  the  doctrine  of  Eng- 
land for  an  extension  indefinitelj^  west 
across  the  continent  was  victorious — 
the  right  of  continuity'  prevailed  over 
the  theory  of  the  water -shed. 

By  the  treaty  of  1763  the  Missis- 
sippi, as  we  have  seen,  was  made  the 
permanent  boundary  between  the 
possessions  of  Great  Britian  and 
France  on  this  continent,  and  accord- 
ing to  Calhoun  this  treatj^  "in  effect 
extinguishes  in  favor  of  France  what  - 
ever  claim  Great  Britain  may  have 
had  to  the  region  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi." 

In  his  repl5'^to  Packenham,  Calhoun 
says  that  Great  Britian  by  the  treaty  of 
1763  fixing  the  Mississippi  "as  an  ir- 
revocable boundary  between  the  terri- 
tories of  France  and  Great  Britain," 
thereby  surrendered  to  France  all  her 
claims  on  this  continent  west  of  the 
river,  including,  of  course,  those  within 
the  charter  limits  of  her  three  colonies 

(a)  See  copy  of  map  in  Winsor's  Mississippi 
Basin,  p.  320. 

82 


which  extend  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  "on 
these  united  with  those  of  France  as 
the  possessor  of  lyouisiana  we  rest  our 
claim  of  continuity  as  extending  to 
that  ocean  without  an  opposing  claim, 
except  that  of  Spain,  which  we  have 
since  acquired  and  consequently  re- 
moved by  the  treaty  of  Florida."  (a) 
The  purchase  of  Louisiana  restored 
and  vested  in  the  United  States  all 
claims  acquired  by  France,  and  sur- 
rendered by  Great  Britain  under  the 
treaty  of  1763,  to  the  country  west  of 
the  Mississippi.  Certain  it  is  that 
France  had  the  same  right  of  contin- 
uity in  virtue  of  the  possession  of 
Louisiana,  and  the  extinguishment  of 
all  rights  of  Great  Britain  by  that 
treaty  to  the  whole  country  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  lying  west  of 
Louisiana,  if  not  embraced  in  the 
original  limits  of  the  "colony  or  pro- 
vince" as  against  Spain  or  England, 
which  England  had  to  the  country 
west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  as 
against  France,   with  this  difference, 

(a)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5.  p.  453. 
83 


that  Spain  had  nothing  to  oppose  to 
the  claim  of  France  at  the  time,  but 
the  right  of  discovery,   (a) 

On  the  ground  of  contiguity  prin- 
cipally Great  Britain  claimed  the 
country  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  en- 
forced by  other  considerations,  {d) 
And  the  strongest  of  these  considera- 
tions was,  that  it  could  not  consist 
with  natural  law,  that  the  English 
colonies  with  a  population  of  nearly 
two  millions  should  be  confined  to  a 
narrow  belt  of  land  between  the  Alle- 
gheny Mountains  and  the  Atlantic, 
and  that  the  right  derived  from  the 
discovery  of  the  main  river  should  be 
carried  to  such  an  extent  as  to  allow 
the  French  colonies  with  a  popula- 
tion of  only  50,000  to  claim  the  whole 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  (c) 

So  that  the  statement  of  Gallatin  that 
the  claims  of  the  United  vStates  to  the 
Northwest  coast  "dates  at  least  from 
the  time  when  they  acquired  Louis- 
iana," cannot  be  denied. 

(a)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5,  p.  434. 

if>)     WritiiiKS  of  Gallatin,  3rd  Vol.,  p.  505. 

(c)     Writings  of  Gallatin,  3rd  Vol.,  p.  504. 

84 


"It  is,  therefore,  not  at  all  surprising 
that  France  should  claim  the  country- 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  (as  may- 
be inferred  on  her  maps)  on  the  same 
principle,  that  Great  Britain  had  claim- 
ed and  dispossessed  her  of  the  regions 
west  of  the  Alleghenies,  or  that  the 
United  States  as  soon  as  they  acquired 
the  rights  of  France,  should  assert  the 
same  claim  and  take  measures  immedi- 
ately after  to  explore  it  with  a  view  to 
occupation  and  settlement."  {a) 

Great  Britain  for  many  years  oppos- 
ed our  claim  to  the  Northwest  bound  - 
ary  in  its  entirety  as  far  south  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  Sir  Alexander  McKenzie, 
a  man  of  great  ability,  great  enterprise 
and  wonderful  energ>^  inspired  the 
English  Government  with  the  thought 
to  claim  the  whole  west  coast  of  Ameri- 
ca as  far  south  as  the  Columbia,  (l?) 
In  1793  McKenzie  made  his  celebrated 
march  of  exploration  across  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  but  missed  the  sources  of 
the    Columbia    and    fell     upon     the 

{a)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5,  p.  435. 

(b)     Benton's  Thirty  Years,  Vol.  1,  p.  54. 

85 


Tacoutche  Tesse,  a  north  branch  of 
the  Frazier  River,  and  following  these 
waters  in  their  course  finally  reached 
the  Pacific  Ocean  five  hundred  miles 
north  of  the  Columbia  and  also  north 
of  the  49th  degree  north  latitude.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  1818  that  the 
British  Government  for  the  first  time 
made  known  the  grounds  upon  which 
its  pretensions  to  the  northwest  coast 
rested,  namely,  the  voyage  of  Capt. 
Cook,  who  in  1776  was  directed  to 
explore  the  coast  of  New  Albion,  a 
name  which  had  been  bestowed  by 
Drake  upon  this  coast  when  he  sailed 
along  it  with  one  of  his  flying  pirati- 
cal squadrons.  It  was  claimed  that 
Cook's  voyage  gave  Great  Britain  a 
right  from  discovery,  as  also  pur- 
chases of  land  made  by  the  English 
from  the  natives  prior  to  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution.  No  formal  pro- 
position was  made  as  to  boundary, 
but  it  was  intimated  that  the  Colum- 
bia River  was  the  most  convenient 
boundary,  (a)       To  this    proposition 

(.a)     Letters  from  Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Rush,  Oct. 
28,  1S20;  Benton's  Thirty  Years,  Vol.  1,  p.  51. 

86 


our  representatives  would  not  assent, 
but  it  was  agreed  that  the  country  on 
the  northwest  coast  claimed  by  either 
party  should  without  prejudice  to  the 
claims  of  either  party  for  a  limited 
time  be  left  open  for  the  purpose  of 
trade  to  the  inhabitants  of  both  coun- 
tries, and  this  agreement  was  em- 
bodied in  the  convention  of  1818. 
Afterwards  in  1827  this  agreement  was 
extended  indefinitely,  but  to  be  can- 
celled upon  twelve  months'  notice  by 
either  party. 

In  subsequent  negotiations  British 
agents  further  rested  their  claim  upon 
the  discovery  of  McKenzie,  the  seizure 
of  Astoria  during  the  war  of  1812,  the 
Nootka  Sound  treaty  of  1790.  Of  the 
grounds  thus  advanced  not  one  could 
be  considered  tenable.  Cook  never 
saw,  much  less  took  possession  of  the 
northwest  coast.  The  Indians  from 
whom  British  subjects  were  said  to 
have  purchased  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion were  not  even  named  and  the 
transaction  was  in  no  wise  identified, 
only  that  it  took  place  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia.  McKenzie  did  not 
87 


discover  the  Columbia,  but  the  Frazier 
River  five  hundred  miles  north.  The 
seizure  of  Astoria  gave  no  title  by 
conquest.  In  addition,  Astoria  was 
at  the  close  of  the  war  restored,  and 
the  treaty  of  Nootka  of  1790  was  in  no 
wise  a  treaty  of  acquisition,  (a) 

After  great  agitation  for  many  years, 
notice  was  finally  given  by  the  United 
States  to  abrogate  the  convention  of 
1827,  and  in  1846  a  treaty  was  made 
and  ratified  fixing  the  49th  degree 
parallel  north  latitude  as  the  boundary 
line  between  the  United  States  and 
England,  deflecting,  however,  through 
the  Straits  of  Fuca  instead  of  dividing 
Vancouver  Island,  this  being  the 
boundary  which  for  a  period  of  forty 
years  had  been  tendered  to  the  Govern  - 
ment  of  Great  Britain,  in  1807  by 
Jefferson;  in  1824  by  Monroe;  in  1826 
by  Adams ;  in  1842  by  Tyler  and  which 
in  1845  finally  was  accepted  when  pre- 
sented by  Polk.  "Thus  the  ancient 
boundary  fixed  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
between  England  and  France  was 
finally  adopted,"  a  boundary  charac- 

(<;)     Beuton's  Thirty  Years,  Vol.  1,  p.  51. 
8S 


terized  by  Benton  as  "wonderfully- 
adapted  to  the  natural  divisions  of  the 
country,  separating  the  two  systems 
of  water,  those  of  the  Columbia  and 
Frazier  Rivers  as  natural  atid  cora- 
modiously  on  the  west  of  the  moun- 
tains as  it  parted  on  the  east  side  of 
the  same  mountains  the  two  systems 
of  water  which  belonged  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  on 
the  other  to  the  Hudson  Bay  or  Arctic 
Ocean.  That  at  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
with  but  imperfect  geographica  1 
knowledge,  such  a  line  so  long  and 
so  straight  and  so  adapted  to  the  rights 
of  all  parties  should  have  been  select- 
ed as  the  boundary  line  of  I^ouisiana 
on  the  north  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
history. ' ' 

Although  manifest  that  the  Louis- 
iana Purchase  secured  us  the  coast, 
we  find  that  some  would  rest  the  title 
of  the  United  States  on  the  so-called 
discovery  of  the  Columbia  by  Capt. 
Gray.  No  doubt  Gray's  discovery, 
or  re -discovery,  of  the  Columbia  was 
an  incident  in  the  Oregon  controversy, 
but  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  was 
89 


discovered  by  Heceta  prior  to  Gray, 
and  the  coast  taken  possession  of  in 
the  name  of  Spain.  Before  Gray  en- 
tered the  river  the  entire  coast  had 
been  traced,  and  Gray  neither  dis- 
covered it  for  the  first  time  nor  had 
authority  to  take  possession  of  it.  In 
the  discovery  he  had  been  anticipated 
by  Heceta.  The  re-discovery  by  Capt. 
Gray  undoubtedly  added  strength 
to  the  claim  of  the  United  States,  but 
it  was  the  I^ouisiana  Purchase  that 
gave  us  title  to  the  territory  and  made 
Gray's  entrance  and  voyage  up  the 
Columbia  important  as  well  as  the  fact 
that  he  gave  the  river  the  name  of  his 
ship  "Columbia." 

The  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark, 
without  the  possession  of  the  Louisi- 
ana hinterland,  would  have  given  the 
world  some  valuable  geographical  and 
topographical  information,  but  in  no 
wise  would  have  given  title  to  the 
territory  to  the  United  States.  The 
expedition  was  sent  out  to  secure  trade 
and  commerce,  and  it  is  manifest  that 
the  territory  as  far  as  the  Pacific  was 
considered  by  Jefferson  and  his  con- 
90 


temporaries  as  an  unexplored  portion  of 
Louisiana.  The  expedition  of  Lewis 
and  Clark  "brought  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  world  this  great  river,  the 
greatest  by  far  on  the  western  side  of 
the  continent.  *  *  *  It  clearly  en- 
titled us  to  the  claim  of  priority  of 
discovery  as  to  its  head  branches  and 
the  exploration  of  the  river  and 
the  region  through  which  it  passes, 
as  the  voyage  of  Capt.  Gray  and  the 
Spanish  navigator  Heceta,  entitled  us 
to  priority  in  reference  to  its  mouth 
and  the  entrance  into  its  channel. "  (a) 

The  claim  of  the  United  States  to 
the  possession  of  the  territorj-^  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  between  the 
42  nd  and  49th  parallels  of  latitude 
was  by  Gallatin  well  and  ably  placed 
on  the  ground : 

First — Of  the  acquisition  by  the 
United  States  of  the  titles  of  France 
through  the  Louisiana  treaty,  and  the 
titles  of  Spain  through  the  Florida 
treaty. 

Second — The  discovery  of  the 
mouth  of    the  Columbia.      The    first 

(a)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5,  p.  430. 
91 


exploration  of  the  country  through 
which  that  river  flows,  and  the  estab- 
lishments of  the  first  settlements  in 
those  countries  by  American  citizens. 
The  virtual  recognition  of  the  titles  of 
the  United  States  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment in  the  restitution  agreeable 
to  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  of  the  post  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  which  had  been  taken 
during  the  war ;  and 

Lastly — Upon  the  ground  of  con- 
tiguity, which  would  give  the  United 
States  a  stronger  right  to  those  terri- 
tories than  could  be  advanced  by  any 
other  power,  a  doctrine  always  main- 
tained by  Great  Britain  from  the 
period  of  her  earliest  attempts  at 
colonization  in  America,  as  clearly 
proved  bj^  her  charters  in  which  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  continent  be- 
tween certain  parallels  of  latitude  es- 
tablished at  points  on  the  borders  of 
the  Atlantic.  "If,"  says  Mr.  Galla- 
tin, "some  trading  factories  on  the 
shores  of  Hudson  Bay  have  been  con- 
sidered by  Great  Britain  as  giving  an 
exclusive  right  of  occupancy  as  far  as 
92 


the  Rocky  Mountains,  if  the  infant 
settlement  on  the  more  southern  At- 
lantic justified  a  claim  thence  to  the 
South  Seas,  and  which  was  actually 
enforced  to  the  Mississippi,  that  of 
the  millions  already  within  reach  of 
those  seas  cannot  consistently  be 
rejected."  (a) 

General  Walker,  director  of  the  10th 
census,  says:  "The  discovery  and 
exploration  of  the  Columbia  River  by 
Capt.  Gray,  an  American,  the  pur- 
chase of  lyouisiana  and  all  that  be- 
longed to  it  as  far  as  the  Pacific,  from 
the  French  in  1803,  their  claim  being 
the  next  best  to  that  of  Spain,  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  Columbia  by  Lewis 
and  Clark,  and  the  treaty  of  limits 
concluded  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States  in  1819,  by  which  the 
territory  north  of  the  42nd  degree 
north  latitude  was  expressly  declared 
to  belong  to  us,  constitute  our  title  to 
these  regions."    (d) 

(a)  Greenhow's  Oregon,  p.  348.  Our  well  founded 
claim  grounded  on  continuity  has  greatly  been 
strengthened  by  the  rapid  increase  of  population  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  ,S, 
page  439. 

(b)  Vol,  9,   10th  Census,  p.  23. 

93 


In  this  paragraph  our  title  to  the 
northwest  coast  is  correcllj'  but  con- 
fusedly stated.  Our  title  primaril}^ 
rested  on  the  Louisiana  Purchase. 
The  United  States  "acquired  from 
France  by  treaty  of  Louisiana  import- 
ant and  substantial  claims  to  the  terri- 
tory" on  the  northwest  coast  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,    (a) 

It  is  certain  that  by  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  the  United  States  first  be- 
came a  power  on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Gray's  re -discovery  of  the  Columbia 
was  made  valuable  by  the  Louisiana 
Purchase.  Without  that  purchase  his 
entrance  into  the  Columbia  and  navi- 
gation of  that  river  would  have  given 
us  no  rights. 

The  discoveries  of  Spain  while  in 
possession  of  Louisiana  clearly  inured 
to  the  benefit  of  France,  wherever 
such  explorations  enlarged  the  limits 
of  the  "province  or  colony  of  Louisi- 
ana," or  made  the  limits  and  bound- 
aries of  that  colonj^  more  certain  and 
definite.  And  the  vo3'ages  and  dis- 
coveries of  Perez  and  of  Heceta  en- 

(fl)     Calhoun's  Works,  Vol.  5,  p.  554. 
94 


larged  and  made  more  certain  those 
limits  and  must  be  considered  as  en- 
uring to  the  benefit  of  the  "colony  or 
province." 

But  by  the  treaty  of  1818  all  the 
rights  of  Spain  north  of  the  42nd  par- 
allel were  granted  to  us,  thus  making 
absolutely  certain  the  boundaries  of 
the  Ivouisiana  Purchase  on  the  south 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  exedition  of  I^ewis  and  Clark 
was  sent  out  to  explore  the  unex-' 
plored  regions  of  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase, and  when  the  exploring  party 
reached  the  western  ocean,  erected 
the  rude  Fort  Clatsop  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  and  raised  the  flag  of  the 
United  States,  it  was  notice  to  all  the 
world  that  we  had  taken  possession 
of  the  farthest  limits  of  the  Ivouisiana 
Purchase,  and  that  a  new  power  was 
established  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific, 
for  no  one  can  contend  that  this  ex- 
pedition without  the  purchase  of  the 
"colony  or  province  of  Louisiana" 
could  or  would  have  resulted  in  the 
acquisition  of  territorial  rights. 

"When  this  expedition  started  out 
95 


on  its  celebrated  march,"  saj'S  the 
late  Dr.  Elliott  Coues,  who  has  so  well 
edited  and  annotated  the  narrative  of 
this  great  expedition,  "Louisiana  was 
all  that  country  which  was  ceded  by- 
Spain  to  France  and  bj^  the  latter  to 
the  United  States.  It  was  practically 
the  United  States  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. A  map  of  the  period  just  be- 
fore the  cession  would  show:  United 
States  east  of  the  Mississippi ;  British 
possessions  north  of  the  49th  degree 
and  along  the  Great  Lakes,  etc. ; 
Spanish  possessions  on  the  southwest 
up  to  about  the  38th  degree  at  the 
point  of  the  farthest  northward  ex- 
tension, the  rest  being  Louisiana.  A 
straight  line  from  the  Straits  of  Fuca 
on  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  River  would  run 
through  'Louisiana'  from  the  north- 
west to  the  southeast.  Such  was  the 
vast  area  acquired  bj'  the  United 
States  through  Jefferson's  magnifi- 
cent stroke."    (a) 

So    whatever    the    different    argu- 
ments that  may   at   this   late   day  be 

(a)    Coues'  Edition  Lewis  aud  Clark's  Expedition, 
Vol.  1,  p.  XXXIH. 

96 


brought  forward,  principally  borrowed 
from  British  sources,  it  is  clear  that 
all  of  Montana  and  the  states  of 
Idaho,  Oregon  and  Washington  should 
be  placed  in  the  galaxy  of  the  lyOuisi  - 
ana  Purchase  states. 


97 


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